I feel like I don't know what I am talking about when it comes to my thesis topic: Web 2.0. I don't know where to start with my research, although, my mentor has given me some great ideas to begin with. But I still feel like I'm behind in my research. I have my proposal, installment 1 of the annotated bibliography, and 1 abstract/critique due tomorrow. Of course it probably doesn't help that I am blogging right now, but I think it might help me sort through my thoughts. That's why I'm taking a short break from researching to write this blog. I'm using Web 2.0 to figure out my thoughts! I think it's kind of funny. I just had a thought about a connection between blogging and freewriting. Could they be the same thing? I consider what I am doing right now to be freewriting because I am typing everything that comes to my mind. I've never really blogged before but I see it as the same thing. Preparing for a blog just defeats the purpose in my opinion. I've always thought of blogs as a way to write all your thoughts on a topic without writing it ahead of time in a separate word document, etc. Maybe this is just me, but let me know what you think about blogging and freewriting. Are they similar?
Back to Web 2.0! After doing the initial research, I've realized that there are two aspects to Web 2.0:
1) Web 2.0 is the new media or websites that are created
2) Web 2.0 is characterized by collaboration, interaction, sharing, publishing, responding across different types of social media
What I want to concentrate on is the second aspect in relation to eduction and the classroom. Is Web 2.0 important or relevant in the education? At this point in my research and personal thoughts, I think "yes." We have so many new ways in which students can communicate with one another beyond the traditional classroom setting. Learning continues beyond the classroom. When we read the Yahoo homepage and see an article we are interested in, we click on it and read. We can either be passive readers who just read or skim through the article to see what it says, OR we can respond to the information critically, analyzing and responding in the comment feature at the bottom of the article. We can also decide to take the information as fact [because everything on the internet is true, right? ;) ] OR we can use Web 2.0 tools such as Google search to find other articles on the same story and compare the information given. Ultimately, it is how we use the Web 2.0 tools that make Web 2.0 the collaborative/interactive community (platform?) that Tim O'Reilly described when he first used the term.
Of course, some of you may be reading this and thinking "What in the world is this girl trying to say?" That's okay. I don't even know what I'm trying to say or do with this thesis topic. At least this is a start, right? I would appreciate any feedback on this subject. Maybe ask some thought provoking questions that make me think on a deeper level. Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read this!!!
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