BCIT Web 2.0
Welcome to BCIT Web 2.0.
This blog is meant to introduce you to and help you to explore some Web 2.0 tools.
Thanks to the PLCMC Learning 2.0 blog and the MRRL Library Learning 2.0 blog which were big inspirations for this one.
So, what is Web 2.0? Web 2.0 generally refers to the interactive web.
By using social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, by creating blogs, adding to wikis and tagging or entering virtual worlds, people are able to collectively participate in building online communities or developing a body of content.
The great thing? Many Web 2.0 tools are free but they do require users to set up an account. This allows content to be stored and then accessed and updated from any internet connection.
Setting up accounts
- decide which e-mail you want to use
- decide what name you want to use
- decide which password you want to use
- set up a google account
There are 5 activities listed below for you to try:
- create a blog using Blogger
- set up a Google Reader account (where you can check your RSS feeds)
- taste Del.icio.us, a social bookmarking site
- join Facebook, a social networking site
- send a tweet using Twitter
A. BLOGS AND RSS FEEDS
Blogs originated as personal text-based online diaries and evolved to incorporate various media and to serve a variety of purposes. Blog entries are most often displayed in reverse chronological order (newest entries at the top.) Although it is often possible to post comments on blog entries, blogs usually have one author or author group who has editorial control over the blog posts and the comments. Find out more about blogs in Wikipedia and How Stuff Works
ACTIVITY ONE
Create your own blog in three easy steps:
Go to blogger (you need to set up a Google account to use blogger)
1. create an account by clicking on the orange arrow on the right side of the screen and filling in the form. Then, click on the continue arrow.
2. name your blog
You need a blog title and address (make a note so you can remember these!) Fill out the form and click on the continue arrow.
3. select your template - now the fun bit begins. Choose a template, click on the continue arrow, wait for the message that your blog has been created, click on start posting and you are ready to create your first post!
Use the Edit Html tab if you want to compose using html code and the Compose tab if you do not. This blog is created using just the compose tab which is a little limiting but very easy.
The trick is to remember that you edit your blog through blogger and your blog is viewed through a blogspot address: http://(name/of/your/blog).blogspot.com.
Dashboard is where you want to be to manage your blog(s.)
Check this Start a Blog wiki for more detail.
RSS FEED READERS
RSS usually stands for stands for Really Simple Syndication. A site which has an RSS feed allows you to subscribe to the content of that site using an RSS feed reader to gather updates from all of your chosen sites in one place. Rather than having to go from favorite site to favorite site, you can check new content from all the sites you subscribe to at one web location.
Wikipedia can tell you more.
RSS technology is also used to subscribe to podcasts.
ACTIVITY TWO
Google Reader is an aggregator, or feed reader, which allows you to track favorite blogs, newsfeeds and other web content with added options like e-mailing posts.
Set up a Google Reader account by signing in to your Google account. Choose some blogs or newsfeeds to add to your list.
Hint: right click on the RSS feed icon for the site you are interested in following, click on copy shortcut, go to Google Reader and do Ctrl/v to paste into the address box.
Technorati tracks the wide wide world of blogs providing an up to the minute look at new blog posts, favorites and topics of your choice. Do have a look at this fascinating site and try a few searches to see where your favorite topics are showing up.
A WORD ABOUT WIKIS
Wiki is a Hawaiian language word for fast. Wikis were designed to be an easy and fast online collaboration tool: a database which can be easily added to and easily edited by anyone who has access. The best know wiki is, of course, Wikipedia. Here is what Wikipedia and How Stuff Works has to say about wikis.
Find out more about wikis by visiting The World of Wikis. You can also check wikimatrix which compares different online tools for creating a wiki.
C. COLLABORATIVE TAGGING
Collaborative tagging, also sometimes referred to by other terms such as folksonomy or social indexing, allows collaborative creation and management of metadata. That is, participants add the keywords or 'tags' that make sense to them. Users can see what others have listed under a particular keyword or can see what individuals who share their interests have listed. The photo sharing site flickr is a site which uses tagging allowing for easy searching (try a BCIT search.)
BCIT Library's new discovery interface, Encore, allows our users to tag items.
SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
A good example of collaborative tagging is the social bookmarking site del.icio.us. This site allows users to build up a web-based database of bookmarked sites which they can access from any internet connection. When you save a site, you tag it. Users can search by keyword to get a list of the sites under that tag. Any of these sites can then be added to the user's saved picks. This site is a great way to filter through the web to find interesting and relevant information on a particular subject quickly. Read more in Wikipedia.
ACTIVITY THREE.
Set up a del.icio.us account. Click on the register button in the top right corner, fill out the form and get tasting!
Another fun site is LibraryThing where you list your favorite books, add tags, read reviews, join in discussions and get reading recommendations. It is an interactive readers advisory site!
D. SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
Facebook and MySpace are probably the best known social networking sites. These sites allow users to build their own profiles and groups to stay in touch with people, plan activities and connect with others with whom they have something in common.
Find out more about social networking at Wikipedia and How Stuff Works.
ACTIVITY FOUR
Facebook started out as a site limited to post-secondary students but has gone far beyond that limited user group to include anyone who has an e-mail account.
Join Facebook by clicking on the sign up form and filling out the form.
You may have hear about Twitter. Twitter is a tool that allows users to post quick updates (tweets) about what they are doing via the web or their mobile devices. Tweets can be up to 140 characters in length. When you join Twitter, you can choose to follow people, which means that you get their updates and people can choose to follow you, which means that they get your updates.
Twitter has been used effectively by media and during emergency situations.
Find out more.
ACTIVITY FIVE
Join Twitter. Click on the Get Started Now button and fill in the form.
You can follow bcit and bcitlib on Twitter.
You can find people to follow a few ways including have a look at the following lists of the people that you are following and add the ones you want to follow by clicking the box
A WORD ABOUT YouTube
YouTube is an important Web 2.0 tool that facilitates the collective building of a free video database via the net.
Web 2.0...The Machine is Us/ing Us and Web 2.0 are a couple of clips on YouTube.
E. VIRTUAL WORLDS
Second Life is currently the most popular virtual world. This is not a game but rather a virtual world created and inhabited by its users. As a user, you create an avatar, which is your person in the virtual world. Creating an avatar and moving around Second Life is free; however, you can also choose to purchase real estate, belongings and services. To do this you use Linden dollars. Find out more.
CONCLUSION
Well, that is the end of this short introduction to some Web 2.0 concepts and tools but hopefully just the beginning of your exploration of the interactive web.
