Module 2 Introduction - What is Web 2.0?

This week we are being introduced to some of the key ideas behind Web 2.0. What is it? How does it work? Why is it new?


First thing first...RSS means Really Simple Syndication..Did you know that because I didn't. Actually I have see the little icon on pages but i never stopped to think about what it actually meant.
Activity One - Newsflash!
RSS is a good example of this separation in action.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) takes the content of a website and makes it available independently from the site.
Try this:

• Open up this page to see the front page of the news.com.au website.
• Now make a note of the current stories under 'breaking news'
• Now look at the news feed running just below: 
•  Activity Two - Creating a Delicious Account

In this activity, you are going to create an account with delicious (if you don't already have one) and 'tag' some sites that may be useful in your studies.

• Go to the delicious website here
• Now, sign up to use the service. (Ideally using the username you selected at the beginning of the unit)
• Once you've done that, go to delicious' tools page and add a bookmarking button to your browser.
• You are now ready to start using delicious.
• Over the course of the next week, try doing a little web searching for articles related to Web 2.0 and 'social media'. Whenever you find a site that you think might be useful (to both yourself and other students), bookmark that site and tag it web101 and write a short annotation detailing what the resource is and why it is useful.
• Of course, you can apply any other tags that are meaningful to you, but make sure to use this shared tag as well as those of your own.
• Through the week, try to gather at least 5 sites in this way.
• At the end of the week, use the tag search in delicious to search for sites with the tag web101 to see the sites that your fellow students have bookmarked.
• http://www.delicious.com/dddmyboys

Readings for this week
Read Tim O'Reilly's comprehensive overview of the shifts he see as defining Web 2.0 in What Is Web 2.0
Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software (5 Pages).
and for a much shorter but far more cynical take on the wisdom of the crowds, The Wisdom of the Chaperones: Digg, Wikipedia, and the Myth of Web 2.0 democracy

 Discussion Board Questions
 In May 2009, the popular TechCrunch Magazine published an article (along with many others) about the death of RSS.
http://www.techcrunchit.com/2009/05/05/rest-in-peace-rss/ 
1a.Do you think RSS will go the way of the Dodo? .... 
No there will always be a place and need for RSS
1b.Has the use of RSS changed since 2009?
I am not sure that it has changed rather it has become more well known and used. It allows people to customize what information they see based on their own interests
2. Within the context of the new XML/HTML reading platforms - such as the iPad, Kindle and other mobile devices, how might "the incremental" web (RSS) be used in the future?
 This will allow people to get their news instantly rather than buying newspapers ect
3. Is such a mobile news stream changing the way we use the web to communicate? 
 It is just allowing a quicker way to communicate to people
4. Is there such a thing as information overload? 
 No, like anything it is up to the user. Just because it is there doesn't mean that you need to abuse it. 

Topic 1.2 What is the World Wide Web?

This topic has taught me that the internet and the web are not the same thing. My first experience with the web;

My first experience of the web would be setting up a hotmail account thinking how cool was this- using it for my studies thinking wow I can access online shopping, print out how to sheets and talk to my sister on messenger - a very slow version to its current state.

This week we were asked if we prefer linear or non-linear narratives. I realized that I prefer linear. As a kid I didn't enjoy those choose your own adventure books, I prefer factual books that had a direction. That's probably why I have chosen to study law as apposed to art. The internet is no different, I search for the information I need then I move on to the next subject.

Topic 1.1 What is the Internet?

Before this week the internet just was. I have never thought about where it comes from, the router or even the service provider. It just is, a part of my life that gets no consideration yet without it I am lost. This week we are looking at that exact question...

What is the internet?

Our course notes describe this as

The Internet is, in essence, merely a big computer network

I have learn t this week that the internet does not just exist for me and that there is so much going on behind it. Networking (I did know about about) due to the large numbers of calls I have made to iinet trying to get my service working. Packet routing was a surprise how many hops it takes to get anywhere online. It made me think about what happens when I search online, which is why I posted on the discussion board;

"I agree I cant even remember my pin numbers for bank cards half of the time. I was asking my husband and mum if they knew what packet routing was and they didn't. I admit neither did I a few weeks ago. It's amazing how many of us, including myself just get on a computer and internet and just use it with no thoughts of what is actually going on every time you click".

Introduction- What's in a name?

Week one has been all about familiarizing myself with web101 the discussion boards, lecture notes and curtin university. Griffith University has been my 'online home' for the past few years although similar they are very different. This unit is one of four left to finish my degree.
Week one was all about learning about students and their online uses. (A thought)The internet is great that it does not discriminate against age, gender or location. That was my realization during week one, students are all ages and we all have one thing in common..to learn.
I actually thought that I knew my way around the internet but really I have walked around the outside of it admiring the exterior without ever knowing what is inside.
Criminology is my degree that I am completing and web101 I thought would compliment it by teaching me how the internet works behind the shutters! Internet crime is rising and the laws are slow to catch up so for me it will be interesting to learn how web pages are created and what exactly is the internet. So who am I online?? Good question;

Have you used email this week?

As I write this I am checking my blackberry constantly for a flashing red light. I send/recieve emails 24 hours a day ( feels like it sometimes). Between work,study
personal life and my online existance it is my main choice of communication.

Have you used a social networking site in the last week?

I am ashamed to say that I may suffer Compulsive Facebook Disorder. I am always checking it and recieving updates. I laughed when on criminal minds agent Rossi commented

" Can somebody explain to me the appeal of these sites? "Eating sushi tonight yum." "Boss is keeping me late tonight grrr." Whose life is so important that we'd be interested in this kind of detail?

Umm..I just posted..making roast for dinner..yum ( oopps)

Have you watched video content online in the last week?

I have been watching utube a bit this week, miranda lambert mainly. I watched family video's posted on facebook ( my cousins little boy can use chop sticks...)

Have you created media in the past week?

I uploaded some photo's of my boys on facebook..very proud mother here

This week our tasks include signing up and creating usernames to online groups like wordpres delicious twitter,flickr, blogger, linkedin and friendfeed. Finally after several attempts on namechk.com I found a name that I could use at all the websites..dddmyboys78 (After my boys dillon, dale and dale).
I must have sat at my computer for over an hour trying to create a user-name I even searhed google for 'creative usernames' which was no help. So until next week...