One of the technology shifts (change of paradigms) I am championing is the emergence into a web 2.0 world from a web 1.0 world (I know some of you techies loathe this concept: web 2.0… sorry, but it really is descriptive and useful). That is, taking information from a single point of view and/or stale state, into an interactive, collaborative, and exciting state.
In the old days… (say … pre-2001), the webmaster was the almighty “gate keeper” of knowledge. They had to post something for people to know about and if it wasn’t posted…we’ll you never knew about it. Now with informational bursting tools like RSS, blogs, wikis, and self-tagged informational items, users of web 2.0 technologies (whether they know they are using them or not) are finding themselves immersed in a matrix of connectivity, usability, and explorability (coining a new word here!). Much of this new matrix is self-directed, self-expandable, community-directed, community-expandable, global in resources and scope, and continually in a state of change. That is, the end-user can literally change (for better or worse) the very information that is on the web and customize their queries so much that they only find exactly what they are looking for -provided it’s available. If what you are looking for is not abailable, you can add it to the informational blob yourself by any one of the limitless avenues availble to you.
Three months ago I browsed right smack into the mother-lode of all web 2.0 directories. AND… it’s a Web 2.0 directory of Web 2.0 Sites! This site is truly amazing and full of incredibly useful, odd, wacky, and USELESS web 2.0 programs and sites. But, it is addictive to search and gives you a great idea as to how much Web 2.0 “stuff” is “out there”.
The name of the directory is Go2web20.net and you’ll have to go to it to have any clue as to just how many and massive the web 2.0 software regime has become. You can find direct here:
A person could literally set up an entire site reviewing each of these Web 2.0 applications and never run out of material to write about. I check in every week or so and randomly pick out a couple to see what’s new and if it is useful and exciting or not.
Have at it! Be Bold! Go hither forth and Web 2.0 away! If you find something extremely useful LET ME KNOW! :)
For me – the latest must-use for music educators is jing + screencast. I’ve been into SnapzPro for years but Jing goes the extra step to publishing your screencast easily at screencast.com.
I got so excited about it in my first month that I used up the 2gb bandwidth allowance (that’s for the free service) in about 2 weeks.
http://www.jingproject.com – it’s a free app to download (mac and windows) then just follow the simple instructions to set up a screencast.com account to publish your screencasts as swf files (with an embed code to copy and paste that’s as easy as YouTube!).