What in the world is Web 2.0?

Reflect on what you have learned in the class and how you will use it professionally as both a lifelong learner and an instructional systems professional (or whatever field you’re in).

My goodness. I have learned SO much in this class. This class has just been so eye opening for me. Normally, I don’t like to join a bunch of sites. I’ve joined more sites in the past 6 weeks than I have since the internet was created. Haha. As a end-user or produser or whatever you want to call me, I’ve really come to understand the power of people in web 2.0. Someone can create something, but if people don’t use it, it’s nothing. When I first joined Twittter, I didn’t know who to follow and didn’t have any followers (except Gina). For me, it was boring because I was missing the social aspect that I got from other sites. Now, I’m starting to build my network and its becoming fun.

I think some other people have noted they’ve found an interest in blogging. As I said in my first post, I used to write in LiveJournal before I knew it was blogging. Keeping this blog has sparked my interest again and I find that I really like blogging. But I have to admit, I do like to know someone is reading my thoughts. I really liked my post last week and even added a cute video, but nobody commented and that made me sad.

I’ve also learned about a lot of sites that can help me both professionally and personally like Digg and Diigo. I never knew about social bookmarking sites before this class. I think these sites will be really beneficial for keeping up with current trends in the field of IS. There are still a lot of sites I’ve yet to explore like Technorati, StumbleUpon, Citeulike, etc. So, I’ll be interested in exploring those even after this course is through.

For week 5:
Posted 3 EJ entries
Participated in 2 discussion board threads
Commented on other EJs
Finalized produsage 2 assignment
Experimented with Second Life and Twitter
Found and read some other interesting blogs (ASTD, T+D)

Those seagulls in Finding Nemo always make me laugh! Haha. Makes you wonder if that’s what seagulls are really saying, I bet they are!

But anyway, this post isn’t about seagulls. It’s about our prompt for this week, “How do issues such as authorship, copyright and open access impact your desire, ability and willingness to engage in produsage, both personally and professionally?” When I first read this prompt, I had the flu and thought, “I really don’t care.” But I’m feeling a little better now and actually had a situation arise that led me to give this more thought. Gina and I created a group on Friend Feed and added all of our classmates’ IS-related produsage assignments to the group. We were thinking of ways to market what we’ve created because it’s meant for current and former IS students (and anyone else who’s interested, really). I suggested we send out an email on the IS listserv.

Although this was my idea, I was a little apprehensive about putting everyone “out there.” Did our classmates intend for EVERYONE in FSU IS to see their work? But then I thought, “Isn’t this the whole point of produsage?” My personal and professional opinion is there is no copyright when it comes to produsage. Everything I put out there (on the internet) can be used, reused, abused, misused, etc. So, if I don’t want to share it, I don’t put it out there or I make sure there are controls in place to secure access to it. There is very little in the world of web 2.0 that is “mine.” This blog is mine but for all I know someone else could be reading it and reposting portions (or all) of my posts anywhere. Every time it is reposted, it becomes a little less mine. And that’s okay, because I don’t feel like I’m coming up with any earth shattering ideas. But suppose I did have an earth shattering idea, I would put it in a book or journal and copyright it and not on the internet.

Well, Gina and I decided to do the second produsage assignment together. We decided to create a group on Friend Feed and to load all of the IS-related produsage assignments created by our classmates. It should be a good way to stay tuned after this class ends.

It appears Edublogs has “redesigned” their website and it’s terrible! The formatting is totally whacked out. Uggh.

Not really. But my Second Life name is AmandaD Foodiboo. I figured if I was going to download Second Life (which I was avoiding) I might as well pick a ridiculous last name. I downloaded SL tonight and did some skeptical exploring. I explored my classmate’s island and the ASTD island. Both were informative but I was still wondering how the heck SL could be used for learning.

I went to the SL website and here I found something that totally blew my mind. I was reading the Offical Second Life Blog and a post about the White House’s Deputy CTO, Beth Noveck, and the mixed-reality event she did yesterday. It sounds totally crazy, but in a sort of good crazy way. Here’s an excerpt from the blog:

“Beth presented in a physical conference room in New York with roughly 50 people in the audience. Meanwhile, over 100 people congregated at the MacArthur Island conference amphitheater in Second Life—waving hands and sending hellos via text—as everyone found a seat and settled in for the discussion. After Beth was introduced, she began her 30 minute discussion on ways that we can use emerging technologies and social media to help our government institutions make better decisions and solve problems more effectively.”

Can you imagine what that must have been like? Gosh, what will they think of next? I can’t wait to see the video and to see how it all played out. I’m also interested in the topic of the event, her new book, “WIKI GOVERNMENT: How Technology Can Make Government Better, Democracy Stronger, and Citizens More Powerful.” So, I think SL is cool, a little too advanced for me, but cool.

Well, this week I wasn’t able to dedicate as much time to this course. Unfortunately, I’ve been working on a research paper for another class. I did manage to find some time to research some new technologies. See my “Can you Digg it?” post. I also read and commented on many of my classmates blogs and gave feedback on the produsage assignments. I had fun looking at what everyone created and finally feel like I have a good conceptualization of web 2.0. I’ve also been pondering what I’ll do for my next produsage assignment, but I still have no clue.

How do you judge the value of expertise on the Web? Does it differ from your notion of expertise in face-to-face settings? Why or why not?

I had to really think about this one because I’m not sure I know many experts. I thought about one of the professors in the FSU Psychology program, Dr. Anders Ericsson. Dr. Ericsson is an expert on experts. His website states an expert is “one who has acquired special skill in or knowledge of a particular subjects through professional training and practical experience” (Webster’s dictionary, 1976, p. 800).

In looking back on the people I’ve met in person and whom I would consider as an expert, I usually come to that conclusion based on the above definition. Dr. Faxon is an expert in evaluation because her business is based solely on evaluation and I would assume she knows a lot about it since most of her professional experience is in that area. Many of the people I work with are experts in the field of insurance because they’ve spent their professional careers in the industry. But I know all of these people. I’ve met them and they have proof of their experience.

We don’t always have the benefit of knowing people on the web. So if we don’t know them, how can we determine they are experts? I judge expertise on the web based on a person’s “presence” on the web. If you Google Dr. Ericcson, you’ll find pages and pages about him and his work. If I didn’t know him, I would still consider him an expert anyway because gee, if all of these other people are talking about him and referencing him, he must know something! As for the author of our course book, Dr. Axel Bruns, he doesn’t seem to have very much presence on the web. He wrote a book and he has a website. So, does that mean he knows what he’s talking about? (Let’s hope so, because I don’t.) Maybe he does know what he’s talking about, but I’m not sure he’s at the “expert” level in my mind, but rather a commentator.

As for expertise in web 2.0, I take everyone’s contribution equally. I value everyone’s opinion. But just because someone talks a lot doesn’t mean they know what they’re talking about.

This week I’ve had the opportunity to experiment with more tools than I have in the previous weeks. This week I’ve been examining Digg, Diigo, and Delicious. All of these tools seem to be filtering tools and are formally called social bookmarking sites (i.e. sites that allow you to filter information on the web based on your interests). They all use the terms bookmark, tag, etc. The social aspect of the sites is that they allow you to have “friends” and you can see what you’re friends have been reading, what they’ve been interested in, etc.

While I can see the similarities in the tools, I’m still trying to figure out the differences between them. Why would someone choose one over the other? For me it all comes down to a few things: layout, functionality, and who’s using it. If the graphics are too overwhelming, I don’t want to use it. Is there a functionality that I really like and does the site do it well? Say I really like the annotation feature Diigo offers and none of the others do (don’t quote me on that), I’m going to use Diigo over the others. And finally, who’s on the site? If all my friends use Digg, chances are I’m going to use Digg to.

What reasons do you have for using one web 2.0 tool over another?

Shamu does!

Today marks a quarter of a century since I’ve been on this earth. To celebrate, my husband and some friends of mine went to SeaWorld this weekend. I had never been to SeaWorld and I’m not sure what possessed me to go to a theme park in July. But it was fun. Anyway, this blog is not entirely about my trip to SeaWorld. But, while we were waiting for the Shamu show to start, the big screens had something on it and www.twitter.com/shamu at the bottom. I thought, “A-Ha! My next blog post!”

I’m still struggling to find a meaningful purpose for Twitter. So when I got back into town today, I checked out the Shamu site. It appears to be used by people who have seen the show and they can upload their own pictures of the whales, etc. There didn’t appear to be anything of substance, as far as Shamu goes anyway. I just can’t imagine why any adult would want to “follow” Shamu. Still not convinced, I checked out this week’s discussion board thread on the Uses of Twitter. From what I gather, most organizations use Twitter to get out updates, like news flashes.

While I can see the usefulness of Twitter for getting out messages, I just don’t think it’s useful enough. I think every source that I get information from would have to use it in order for me to feel like it’s useful. Otherwise, I’d be checking Twitter for updates on whatever, checking tdo.com for local news updates, checking Facebook for other status updates, checking Blackboard, etc, etc. Why can’t everyone just join the same site and be done with it?

Weekly Wrap-Up:

• Finished produsage assignment
• Posted 3 blog posts
• Read discussion board and class wiki

What uses might a collaborative wiki or blog have in your chosen (current or desired) work environment? How would they support learning and/or performance? What would be the design and implementation challenges if management tried to do this? What would be the design and implementation challenges of a user-initiated effort?

I think every organization could benefit from a blog or wiki. It would be nice to have a blog in our Department. I’m pretty aware of what goes on in our division but for the most part I’m not sure what goes on in other divisions. It would be nice to have a central place to communicate ideas and bounce things off others. If we could share what we’re doing we could avoid duplication of work and increase productivity and efficiency. If management tried to develop a blog in our organization, I’m not sure it would be received well by employees. I think employees would be unsure as to what to use it for and might not feel comfortable giving their input fi they feel management is “watching.” If it was user-initiated, we’d definitely have to have management support, otherwise employees will not feel comfortable taking time away from their daily duties to participate on the blog or wiki.