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.