This isn’t your typical post about Web 2.0. I’m not going to argue that it’s a gimmick. I’m not even going to argue that it’s this super awesome community based internet revolution. I just want to comment on how amusing the bickering is over the term.
There seems to be more articles on defining the term than actually on what is happening with the internet today. This is probably not true, but bare with me.
The most popular websites or blogs are centered around technology items, which make perfect sense since most savvy internet users are pimple faced gadget freaks (just playing). My point is that I randomly see arguments about the term Web 2.0 (One example). The funny thing is that they are usually very emotionally charged. You are either seemingly for or against it, but this isn’t true either.
Most people are sitting on the sidelines watching this and being as confused as ever, and this includes me. We really don’t use the term Web 2.0 when we talk about the internet because we are scared to use it. Did the internet just go through a major upgrade? When is Web 3.0 coming out? Are only certain sites labeled Web 2.0? What makes a site Web 2.0? What’s all this talk about community?
What a nightmare or being the positive guy that I am, an amusing mess.
How does all this relate to education? Well… this post was fueled by reading an argument of two well known educational technology advocates. It starts out with David Warlick talking about how he is introducing the term Web 2.0 to first time educators. It is then followed by a fiery comment #11 from David Thornburg. Then it is topped off by another post by David Warlick with his come back. Wow. The topic also spawns a lot of comments from others as well including myself :).
The term Web 2.0 is doomed to die as a joke of the internet because it’s only real definition I can see is this:
Web 2.0 - An geeky argument regarding what to label something
There you have it. Now let me get back to my Web 2.0ing by wasting time on Facebook and MySpace.
Carl Zetterlund
P.S. For those who really don’t know what Web 2.0 really is, go to the people who originally defined it here.
