A Smattering of Web2.0
Posted by mitchsquires on March 24, 2010
Web2.0 is a term commonly used to describe online applications that allow users to interact with other users or contribute content to the website. In Web2.0, the user’s experience is active, rather than passive. There is an ever growing number of Web2.0 applications available, with many being made freely available and encouraging a culture of sharing amongst users.
Web2.0 allows users to create, collaborate, contribute, connect, share and participate in a learning community (Yuen & Yuen).
There are many different types of Web2.0 tools, including blogging, media sharing, online communities, wikis, creative organisational and analytical tools.
Blogging
A blog is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order.
Some free blog providers include WordPress, Edublogs and Blogger.
Example Blogs
Audrey Nay - Teacher Librarian on North Coast NSW
Momo Time To Read – Margot Lindgren, Teacher Librarian at Avalon PS
The Blog Dogs – My class blog
Media Sharing
There are many different types of media sharing websites around. These include video sharing sites (Youtube, Teachertube, Vimeo, Blip.tv), photo sharing sites (Flickr), Podcasting websites (Podbean) and other file sharing sites (Slideshare).
Wikis
A wiki is a website that allows the easy creation and editing of web pages. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites.
Free wikis can be created at Wikipsaces or PBWorks.
Some example wikis:
Cuddie Cuddie – Cultural exchange between looking at Indigenous culture in Australia and Celtic culture in Wales.
Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre
Creative Outlets
There are plenty of creative Web2.0 tools that are user friendly and let you create interesting and appealing products. These include storytelling (Storybird, Picture Book Maker, Myths & Legends) poster making (Glogster), video creation (Animoto), collaborative media (Voicethread) and presentation tools (Prezi)
Some examples:
The Scientist Who Wanted To Experiment On Me Storybird
Online Communities
Online communities are places people share resources and ideas. There are a ranges of different types of online communities such as microblogging (Twitter, Edmodo) social bookmarking (Delicious, Diigo) Virtual Worlds (Second Life, Quest Atlantis) and social networking (me.edu.au, LinkedIn)
Some examples:
Organisational
Many Web2.0 applications are designed around organisation. These include brainstorming/mindmapping applications (Mindomo, Mindmeister, MyWebspiration, Bubbl.us), online notice boards (Lino.it, Wallwisher) and page organisers/RSS (Pageflakes, Google Reader).
Some examples:
Year 6 at Heathfield Wallwisher
Analytical
A number of Web2.0 applications provide data analysis. There are visual information organisers (Wordle, Tagul) and a range of free survey tools (SurveyMonkey, SurveyGizmo, Zoomerang).
Where next?
For oodles of practical examples of how Web2.0 tools are being used check out The Amazing Web2.0 Projects Book by Collated by Terry Freedman. This book contains examples of projects with links to their websites, information on how they were set up, etc. Very Handy.
TaLe’s Web2.0 and Social Media page
Check out 20 Web2.0 Tools for Teachers and Librarians for some more Web2.0 Tools.
Pip Cleaves’ Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy and Web 2 Tools Poster
Bloom’s Taxonomy & Web2.0 – Edorigami
The ICT and Literacy Adventures of a Left Handed Summer Born Boy « Ponderings and musings said
[...] FREE ebook is definitely worth a read The Amazing Web 2.0 projects book. I would also recommend Mitch Squires’ list of Web 2.0 applications and will add to this list after the [...]
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[...] FREE ebook is definitely worth a read The Amazing Web 2.0 projects book. I would also recommend Mitch Squires’ list of Web 2.0 applications and will add to this list after the [...]