Before you begin please complete our quick self assessment checklist. Everyone will complete the self assessment again at the end so we measure our progress as a group.
Watch: this short video clip Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us (Teachertube version) It illustrates the rapid development of web based communication and information tools and the way they encourage collaboration. [hint: to enlarge the YouTube screen look for a small button at the bottom righthand corner]
Over the course of the next twelve weeks, this website will highlight a selection of these technologies with Discovery, Exploration and Adventure exercises to help you become familiar with blogging, RSS news feeds, tagging, wikis, podcasting, online applications, and video and image hosting sites.
A new post will appear each week. Each lesson will introduce a technology or application.
There will be three exercises for you to complete each week
Discover ~ what is it and what can it do?
Explore ~ using the technology and commenting on it
Adventure [optional] ~ a fun exercise to learn even more.
You should be able to complete the program by spending 15 minutes a day working through these activities. If you need help with any activity please contact nswpln@gmail.com, your consultant or work with your colleagues.
To familiarize yourself with this project, be sure to read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. These FAQs should answer most of your questions about this program. And if you don't see your question answered just add it to the FAQ page as a blog comment.Before we embark on this new online learning and discovery journey lets take a few minutes to review the Seven and 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners as identified by Helene Blowers who created the original Learning 2.0 program.
Habit 1 – Begin with the end in mind
Habit 2 – Accept responsibility for your own learning
Habit 3 – View problems as challenges
Habit 4 – Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
Habit 5 – Create your own learning toolbox
Habit 6 – Use technology to your advantage
Habit 7 – Teach and mentor others
Habit 7 ½ – PLAY!
Discover: Follow this link for a Wikipedia definition of Lifelong Learning
Explore: watch actor Stephen Fry discuss Web 2.0.
So fasten your seat belts, grab your mouse and get ready for a discovery adventure… Be sure to tune in every Monday, for the next "thing" or discovery item ... or better yet, subscribe to the RSS feed. [Don’t panic we’ll cover RSS in week 4.]
Adventure: –We will have our first Adventure activity next week.
Next Week: Creating your blog so you can begin tracking your journey.
44 comments:
I especially liked Stephen Fry's parting comment that with the expansion of Web 2.0 the availability of visual/etc material that you once thought lost is now openly and readily available. Web 2.0 has opened up the doors to reclaim much of our social history and enable the vast sharing of that information - those doors are coming down and it's a great thing to see.
I too liked Stephen Fry's comment about the availabilty of 'lost" episodes and the abilty through Web 2.0 knowledge of obtaining them again.
To me Web 2.0 has vast usages and has opened many doors to lost friends and has a myriad of valuable usage/
Stephen Fry really is a national treasure.
I too love the idea that almost anything that you could ever want is now readily available on the internet. Like Mike Wensch demonstated in his The Machine is [Using] Us video, we can rearrange text and content, but we can also rearrange everything in our lives to suit when and where and how we want to access information or entertainment.
These are the two things that stood out to me about the two videos I watched today: the availability aspect, and the fact that content creation on the internet today is collective, and while there is lots of rubbish, there is also a lot of valuable information that we can contribute to and access. The democratic power of content creature with Web 2.0 is what is really attractive to me: that I am not just creating content in a vacuum, but that I am enriching and enhancing other people's experiences as well as my own and that the legacy is not the content that I leave behind but the collective content that we all create and organise.
Readers Advisory suggestion for todays exercise: Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.
Whilst the web may now act as a vast database or storehouse of information, there still remains questions of the value of that information. This information must be stored somewhere and this costs money and time. The web is not a value-laden artifact that anyone can access. There are serious issues of access and equity that still need to be addressed. My concern is that the web can easily become a new frontier for old inequities and injustices.
It still scares me what people put up on MySpace and similar sites - but I love using most of the technology and would be lost without it.
What would we do for most of our ref queries without a lot of these sites?
I'm really new to this area but I wonder about whether these technologies will be able to be used for long term storage of information. Who decides what is kept and in what form?
I enjoyed Stephen Fry's interviews on new technology. This techno stuff is an adveture I will relish. The 71/2 Habit power point presentation has inspired me and can't wait to learn more about this program. I like to be able to access information when
it suits my time frame. I have studied externally for some time and like the freedom it gives me.
I look forward to more next week.
I am looking forward to officially starting Web 2.0 - I have completed snippets of Web 2.0 and I know that there is so much more waiting for me to explore....bring on the adventure!
I too also enjoyed Stephen Fry's comments re: lost moments but with any technology, it is forever changing and if we don't keep up with it or at least attempt to learn a little about it, then we will lost....
This learning adventure is working out quite well - looking forward to getting into more next week.
Am I the only one who had to watch the first video clip four times to follow it? I am obviously one of those in great need of this program.
Otherwise I am very excited about learning all these new things and hope they will really expand my work experience.
I'm with Lesley on that first video. Even though I consider myself as not exactly a technological philistine, I also had to watch that one a couple of times. I suppose it summarised so much development in such a short space of time, so whilst the content was familiar the speed was a bit intense. I was wondering how someone who perhaps was unaware of much of the new technology would fare with that one.
I found the fact that the term 'news' seems quite rubbery and uncertain now. I liked the fact that these new tools are not as important as what we use them for but I question how much value is being added in a vast proportion of the blogs, etc, in existence today (from a large scale perspective). I did enjoy Mr Fry's comments - such a wonderful individual with so much to offer. I too, have rediscovered lost moments through the 'miracle' of the internet and the new technologies, such as a song I downloaded (legally) this morning that I had not heard since 1979 as a child. There seems ample opportunity for self indulgence using these tools, but I am interested in the greater value to the world (and not just the humans in it either).
When I read Lesley's and Bambino's comments about having to watch Stephen Fry's video several times to be able to get into it, I got worried. As a person with a hearing disability who's English is a second language, this would have proved a problem to me. I, too, am new to this thing. But scrolling down the page, I saw the transcript of the interview. And that helped me understand what Stephen was trying to say about Web 2.0.
To me, Web 2.0 is both scary and exciting. Scary because there's so much I need to know to be able to catch up with this technology. And exciting for the same reason that I will be learning how to get into it through this NSW State Library's exercise. Thanks, guys.
Handy hint: I've had trouble getting the videos to work correctly (even on the low bandwidth option), but my handy council IT techie informed me there was an option to download the audio. Yay!
Re Jalen's post: Actually I think Lesley and I were referring to the very first video - the one on YouTube which ran through all the developments very quickly indeed. We weren't referring to Mr Fry's video which was very easy to follow. That is the beauty of his presentation style: intelligent, yet valuable. He is such an incredibly talented man isn't he?! Is there nothing he cannot turn to and contribute to? I wonder!?! Thanks for your comment though Jalen. I have really gotten into this bloggy thing more now.
Just a tip if you have never visited the youtube.com website. Once you have watched the video that you want to watch (such as the one in this tutorial about starting to blog) you will be presented with further videos that are usually related in some way. However! Be careful about clicking on these too quickly! A work colleague clicked on a 'how to blog' video, thinking it would provide further instruction information but the video that played was found to be highly offensive to my colleague. For those who perhaps aren't as 'au fait' with the internet, it is sometimes not so apparent that anything and everything can come up at times!
I really liked the Stephen Fry video. Somehow it's reassuring that he, who for me embodies the love of beautiful language, reading and books - communication in it's traditional guise - is so open and enthusiastic about the future of technology, which will so radically change the way we communicate and learn.
Clearly I am a person very much in need of this training course because I have found that I have spent a much longer period of time in this first module than is recommended. I have had to read every link and often review the material twice before it makes any real sense to me.
There is a whole new universe being created, instantly and infinitely every moment and it is going to take a lot of dedication for those interested to keep up with the changes.
Have just joined Blogworld as part of doing training on 2.0 and to my amazement, I have got this far! Am not sure how much benefit it will be for me, but I'm sure it will be of benefit to those clever people who embrace technology - I'm trying to learn and enjoy it more.
I've commented - where is it??
We are moderating all the comments, which means they do not appear on the blog until one of the Learning 2.0 project team has read them.
The only comments we have deleted are duplicate comments from people who posted the same comment twice because they did not realise we were moderating the comments.
Ellen
Having started my course a little later as I am a new employee I have not only found Stephen Fry's information insightful, but also the blogs left by previous learners. I think Web 2.0 will broaden my horizons.
Like many others, I'm a bit of a late starter to this program... and to the whole "blogging thing" altogether, actually. I'm looking forward to this program - excited but nervous! Looking forward to sharing information with the world and being part of a vast information collective.
The possibilities are endless. I am looking forward to my journey through Web 2.0 to expand my knowledge and understanding of this new technology. Stephen Fry's interview was thought provoking.
Let me at that blog!
Let me at that blog!kxxamnlk
I also had to watch the videos a couple of times to get the feel of them. The volume on the Stephen Fry one was very soft on my staff pc and as I don't have broadband at home both videos were impossible to watch at home. Still I've reached this far and aim to finish this program. Will be challenging and a learning curve.
So interesting and not easy to get your head around for one who grew up in the dark ages of telephone exchanges and black and white TV!
I look forward to achieving lots of lifelong learning. Challenging but fun, I hope.
I look forward to lots pf Lifelong learning. Challenging, but it can only be good.
Help ! I'm feeling stressed already....... I'm a reluctant participant who works part time, is very technologically challenged and who is wondering when in the course of everyday I will find time for this. At least I'm going to give it a go......
After "baa humbugging" to all my facebook fanatic friends, I finally have to drop my defences and get with the times - for work! I'm imagining how surprised my internet converted buddies will be when I send them a link to my blog. Tee hee.
I liked the way Stephen talked about being able to get back a moment in time by catching a TV program that he had missed at some point in his life. This was not possible when he was young but was part of the technology advancements that enhanced our lives. I can see many uses for web 2.o technology but need more time to study web 2.0 and implement them.
I look forward to learning all about Web 2.0 - it will be quite a challenge for me.
I did enjoy the interview with Stephen Fry. He makes it so exciting.
I have always found Stephen Fry's brain interesting. He is not your average Brit actor, he has taken on serious and meaningful characters in various productions. Hoe logic it is then to hear him talking at Web 2.0 as an extension of everyone intelligence and connectivity to all other people. I wonder what people like Einstein, Currie, shakespeare etc would have made of the power of not only the net but Web 2.0. Imagine being able to expand the pool of though that was stored originally in one "computer" - the human brain. But I digress!
To me Web 2.0 not only has vast usages and challenges - but presents us with a diverse range of ethical and personal questions. More of this later.
The power of Web 2.0 is one of the most stunning changes technology has presented us with and a challenge I am ready to use.
So lets knock on those doors and go inside.
I am looking forward to progressing through the program and especially loved Steven Fry's interview - very inspiring for those of us new to web 2.0
I am looking forward to starting the program and thought Steven Fry's interview was especially insightful and inspiring to all of us who are new to web 2.0
Stephen Fry's enthusiam is definately contagious!
I am enjoying web 2.0
I was really surprised to see Stephen fry as the pin-up boy for web 2.o.It gives hope to the more mature people among us.(I wonder if he has ambitions to appera on Dr Who. he would make a great megalomaniac.)
I enjoyed listening to the Stephen Fry video clip. I am very excited about participating in this Lifelong Learning project but also very apprehensive at using all this new computer technology. I am just going to have to keep telling myself that if other people can do it, so can I. Be positive and have the courage to play and have fun exploring.
I found the Lifelong Learning segment of this week very interesting although the concept does seem to be self evident and I suspect that it is a social and human phenomena that predates the 20th century by a long way. I wonder if it one of those things that makes us "human". If so it is interesting that we feel the need now to rediscover "lifelong learning".
I found the European Commission's reports very humphreyesque.
The quick self assessment checklist and the concept of learning through Discovery, Exploration and Adventure exercises seem interesting. And, the and the Seven and 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong fits well with the motto of public libraries is to help societies through their lifelong learning process in order to development of a learned and cultured society.
We are living in a 'screenage' where we connect, collaborate, share, comment and interact in ways that only this generation has been able to do. The possibilities seem endless. However as the users are no longer mere consumers but contributors who 'teach the machine' as Michael Wesch notes in his video 'The Machine is Us/ing Us' we absolutely need to 'rethink a few things' or should that be almost everything including ourselves (as he leaves us with at the end of the clip). One thing I find as one of the younger Librarians in the workplace is that many of my colleagues find change so daunting and scary. Web 2.0 is nothing to be scared of as Stephen Fry points out in his video but is to be embraced as an opportunity with so many possibilities (not only being able to catch up on missed TV episodes;)). Library users are familiar with and users of the technology and possiblities of Web 2.0 so it only makes sense that the people who run and work in them should be too. Part of a Librarian's creed should be to commit to Lifelong Learning (it was definitely encouraged when I completed my postgrad studies in 1999) as we all need to embrace change - it's a part of life anyway and in this modern life the pace of change is phenomonal!
We are living in a 'screenage' where we connect, collaborate, share, comment and interact in ways that only this generation has been able to/can do. The possibilities seem endless. However as the users are contributors and we are 'teaching the machine' (as Michael Wesch says in The Machine is Us/ing Us)we will need to rethink a few things, or almost everything (including ourselves as he leaves us with at the end of the clip). It only makes sense that Librarians and Libraries embrace these technologies as well as they are not going away and our service consumers familiar with and utilising them is growing exponentially. Let's all Librarians commit to Life Long Learning (taking it as seriously as an oath) and embrace change in order to stay current and preserve our profession and the places in which we can provide current and informed services. Maybe we could ask Stephen Fry to be our ambassador to encourage the embracing of change and moving with the times (and the benefits of Web 2.0 - one of them being to never miss an episode of your favourite TV show ever again! ;))
Congratulations to Allan Stewart finishing a uni course at 97. That's real Lifelong learning.
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/05/04/3495516.htm
I've heard that keeping mentally creative or agile keeps one young. Is that true? If so, there is hope for the rest of us....
Keep on keeping on!!
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