ICT in Education

Defining: the web, the social web and collaboration (collaboratively) (915 NBL)

August 5, 2007

I was given the web and the social web to define, my partner Abdullah got collaboration.

Web:

The Web (short for World Wide Web) is a “space for sharing information” (Berners-Lee, 2005) which uses the global network known as the Internet. (Some people use the term interchangably with Internet but the Internet also offers other functions including email and file transfer.)

While it was initially intended to act as a space where information was collaboratively edited online, in the 1990s it was generally a one way source of information, where one person published and the audience passively consumed.

In a network based learning context, this was (and is) a useful way of making information more accessible.

Berners-Lee, T. (2005) timbl’s blog Retrieved August 5, 2007 from Decentralized Information Group website : http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/node/38

Social Web:

The Social Web (also commonly referred to as Web 2.0) is “a subset of … technologies that are highly interactive, conversational and participatory” (Wikipedia, 2007).

It includes websites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, Del.icio.us and Wikipedia as well as tools such as blogs and wikis.

In some ways, it returns to Berners-Lee’s original intention of “a space for communal design, for discourse through communal authorship” (Berners-Lee, 2005) by creating communities of users with common interests who share their collective knowledge in a central space.

The social web has many potential applications in network based learning, offering tools for collaboration and communication, critical reflection and engaging learners by making them producers of content rather than just consumers.

Wikipedia – Social Web – Retrieved August 5, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Web

I made a couple of suggestions for Abdullah’s definition (I haven’t heard from him yet about any thoughts on mine) so it reads like this.

Collaboration:

Collaboration in network based learning involves “joint intellectual effort by students or students and teachers together” in “mutually searching for understanding, solutions or meanings”(Smith & MacGregor, 1992) using electronic technologies.

The relationship between e-collaboration and cognition. Stephen C. Hayne and C.A.P. Smith.International Journal of e-Collaboration 1.3 (July-Sept 2005): p17(18).
http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/teaching/toolbox/glossary.html

Entry Filed under: 915, Social Web, web 2.0. .