Week #7: What are social media?

(Week 7: Oct 5-11/2009)

Overview, goals. The world is awash in Web 2.0, also known as the social web, also known as the read-write web because of the free, easy-to-use tools that allow the least technical among us to create web content.There are four basic pillars of Web 2.0:

1. Multifaceted connectivity. Consider all the different ways we can connect now, through services like MySpace, blogs, wikis, listservs, email... the list goes on and on. Most of them are free, easy to use, scalable and customizable.


2. Free read-write tools. Many of the tools that characterize Web 2.0 are developed with programming languages that many people use. The result is that there are lots of tools! Most of them feature a writing component, allowing you to contribute to web content. This is quite a shift from even 10 years ago.


3. A cornucopia of content resources. Because anyone can now "write the web," many do. They create podcasts, YouTube videos, MySpace pages and much more. There are blogs, wikis and listservs about every conceivable subject, including whatever you do for a living. Most of this is free.


4. Tools for taming and organizing the cornucopia. We have gone from information tease to overload in 20 short years. How do we manage the overflow of information we now live with? Fortunately there are tools that help you deal with all of the resources you have at your disposal. Tools like del.icio.us, Furl, RSS feeds and so on, help you manage your information. Tools like Wikipedia help you join other web users in managing what you know on a collective basis.

The goal of this activity is to develop an understanding of some of the basic technical building blocks of the social web, as well as how the social web is shaping education, politics and the overall evolution of society.

Activities. First, go the Go to Web 2.0 site and play. This site claims to be the clearinghouse for Web 2.0 applications. You can get lost there. I would limit yourself to an hour, or whatever RL (real life) can withstand.

Next, watch these brief, no-nonsense tutorials by Common Craft about some of the basic building blocks of the social web:

• RSS feeds
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Social bookmarking

Next, watch these two brief YouTube episodes in which Will Richardson explains Web 2.0, and how it impacts education:

• Will Richarson, Part 1
• Will Richardson, Part II
• A non-audiovisual option is to read the first 3 chapters of Will Richardson's book, Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts, and scan the rest
  

Next, listen to the authors of Millenial Makeover (Morley Winograd and Michael Hais) talk about their work in this podcast:

• Millenial Makeover
• A non-audiovisual option is to read the first 3 chapters of the book by the same name, and scan the rest.

Lastly, watch this presentation by Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everyone:

• Clay Shirky's presentation
• A non-audiovisual option is to read the first 3 chapters of Shirky's book, Here Comes Everyone, and scan the rest

Additional web resources

• Networked families, a research report created by the Pew Internet & American Life Project

Felix discussion. Go to our Felix forum to discuss the following question: Based on your activities this week, what major impact do you think social media have on your professional life? Respond to this question, as well as three other posts from colleagues. Discussion concludes saturday night.

Blog posting. Post on your blog, using the heading “Social media.” Post a minimum of 2-3 paragraphs of reflection that summarize how you view the impacts of social media. Include references to the material that you watched. What are your “take-away” realizations as a result of this activity? As always, feel free to note any biases you suspect in the materials you used. Also, be vigilant about using visually differentiated text in your presentation. Remember: blog updates due by Sunday evening.

* image (freak_on_the_phone.jpg) is by Jim from www.unprofound.com, a public image resource.