Week 1: What is Web 2.0 Learning All About Anyways?

 Let me begin by saying: School failed to prepare me for social media. 

You would think in the 21st century, a day and age in which everyone lives on their smart phones, doom scrolling away, that people would be using social media for more than just entertainment. Sadly, this was not the case for me growing up. While my education has taught me basic skills in things like creativity, communication, and collaboration, it never showed me how to do it in a public, digital space. It was always directed at in-person events as a way to prepare me for the "real-world." Creativity came through essays, collaborations came through group projects, and communication through presentations. In fact, rather than teach me how to embrace social media as a learning tool, society and my education taught me "be careful with what you post. Your digital footprint is permanent, and whatever you do online will impact you in some way." I interpreted this as, "don't post anything online!"

While the message is true, and you should be careful with what you post online, it doesn't mean its something to be fearful of. Afterall, fear is the mind-killer.

Instead, use web 2.0 as a tool to engage with and create communities and networks that help you meet and learn from others! 

Before that can happen though, I think we should set some definitions. 

First and foremost, Web 2.0 is the version of the internet where we as consumers can also engage and create our own content, rather than just consume it. Within this realm lies social media, which are deliberate places for media and content to be created and shared. Here is where things can diverge into more niche sections, such as communities and networks. These are subgroups of social media that are based on the type of experience and engagement being presented. Communities are more casual and focused on a similar topic or interest For example, a reddit thread focused on Star Wars. Here, people can fight about canon events all day long in a casual setting. Members can share their stories, connect with others, and relate on a more personal level. Alternatively, if members don't want to become this personal, they can instead join a network. These are more focused on information and data sharing. Here, a member can follow or join a Star Wars network, to learn about new movies and shows coming out, sharing their two cents, and then passing the information along to others interested. Its not an intimate group of fans relating their own life stories and political experiences to the rise of the empire, but rather its akin to a newsletter between a connected group of interested parties that they can share and engage with.

Now that we have established these terms, we can begin to see how instructional content can be engaged with differently between the two. A community allows participants to create and engage with the content on a more personal level. Maybe in our theoretical Star Wars reddit, instruction is being released that shows how George Lucas made a lightsaber. Within the community, members can then follow these instructions, make their own versions, and share it! In a network, this same information may be shared and only consumed before being passed on to the next member of the network.

For remainder of this blog and course, you will see me primarily refer to web 2.0 as "Social Media." This post served as an introduction to key terms, and even gave a some-what nerdy example with the use of Star Wars. As we continue exploring this content together, lets see how we can create and foster these social media communities, and what we can do as learners and designers to effectively teach through social media.