Advanced Computer Applications: Web 2.0 Assignment

a. Part 1: Web 2.0 Reflection

As the name suggests, Web 2.0 describes a set of next-generation Internet technologies. These protocols and tools make it easier to create online applications that behave dynamically, much like traditional PC-based software. They're also highly social, encouraging users to manipulate and interact with content in new ways.

In general, the key characteristics of Web 2.0 are:

• Web-based applications can be accessed from anywhere
• Simple applications solve specific problems
• Value lies in content, not the software used to display content
• Data can be readily shared
• Distribution is bottom-up, not top-down
• Employees and customers can access and use tools on their own
• Social tools encourage people to create, collaborate, edit, categorize, exchange, and promote information
• Network effects are encouraged; the more people who contribute, the better the content gets

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/

b. Part 2: The Power and Peril of Web 3.0

Ed tech professor emeritus Jason Ohler explains the theory behind the Semantic Web and how it can help educators manage the ever-expanding information overload by putting the onus of organization back where it belongs—on the computers.

c. Web 2.0 Tool (Overview)

Comic Life gives students the opportunity to not just add an illustration, but to use sequential images and text to tell a story or relate their understanding of learned materials in the past has been difficult. As a fundamentally visual medium comics provide scaffolding for students, bringing together visual and text based learning. Students can create a one page comic illustrating a concept or a more complex multipage storyline in Comic Life. Incorporating photos and drawings to their narratives is a fun way for students to cement narrative arcs, demonstrate understanding and be creative!

Comic Life’s easy-to-use interface means kids can “try on” words, language, or stories, see how they work, and then easily change or fine tune them. Like “sandboxing” in the computer world, it means kids can experiment without setting anything in stone, see results in real time, and then improve what they’ve created immediately. Once students have a final version of their comic it is easy to share using our export options: PDF, images, printing and much more!

The process for creating a comic as a whole class can be fun as well as an excellent experience for students to polish their interpersonal communication skills. The process, however, is likely to be very different from any other kind of writing and will require students and the teacher to quickly change roles.

Students can make comics individually, of course, and may much prefer it to collaboration. How much is text and how much is graphics will vary from student to student, project to project. Comic Life can be used to produce work which is mostly text and fewer images as well as graphic dominated comics. Students may use Comic Life for a variety of different writings.

The comic format can be very enriching raised from other areas of knowledge. For example, the creation of a comic based on an historical era. This type of project would require research on dress, architecture, arts, culture and everyday life, similar to the needed for an essay about the same subject.