Place Filler: Web 2.0

This is not a blog post, more of a placeholder. I’ve been thinking about web 2.0 and eLearning 2.0 for at least a month now.

Web 2.0: The O’Reilly article and the conference
eLearning 2.0: Stephen Downes article

There are of course MANY links now. And first to focus on Web 2.0

Are we ready for Web 2.0?

We had several long conversations last year at BlogTalk downunder. Sitting around in Rush Cutters Bay it seemed quite a long way from the reality of being back at our desk, but we did have good internet. At that stage things had polarised in my mind.

On one end course management systems, learning management systems, slightly more modern with the idea of virtual learning environments and community spaces. The features of these are that they require logging in. It is possible in many set ups to subscribe to forums so that you receive notifications, but generally it’s a matter of going there.

On the other side [And Stephen Harlow strongly supported this view] – we just maintain our own blogs and have a good rss feed. Logging in is BAD.

Things have now moved on much further from this, the Web 2.0 conference has finished, O’Reilly has published his short article on Web 2.0 and now we are deciding whether it is marketing hype, a new meaningless buzzword, or represents a fundamental change.

Carol Cooper in her blogs presentation last week said, you shouldn’t blog if you say

• I don’t have the time
• knowledge is top down
• I need to finish and craft what I am writing

and she is probably right. The disciplines of blogging do include the ability to write quick, well crafted comment.

Are we ready for Web 2.0? We shall see. I think my worry is that it will polarise us into a ready and not ready group. Whether those people who are not ready get penalised, I don’t know. More later on my month of mayhem where I’ve found it really is a tagging and RSS jungle out there.