This study investigates the second generation of the World Wide Web, called Web 2.0. The revolution of Web 2.0 over Web 1.0 was that it allowed Internet users not to be passive recipients. who simply read the digital content of a web page, but enabled them to add digital content, share information, and collaborate online. The blast of Web 2.0 is therefore largely based on the electronic sharing of knowledge and information.
In this paper the basic features of Web 2.0, its basic services, functions and tools will be firstly described. Next, concepts such as social networking services and social networks will be analyzed and the application of Web 2.0 in education, as well as the benefits it can bring will be studied.
In conclusion, a summary of the possibilities of Web 2.0 is made and the advantages, disadvantages and its role in the educational process are presented through a critical point of view.
One of the major differences between Web 2.0 and the traditional World Wide Web is the greater collaboration between Internet users and other users such as digital service providers and businesses. While Web 1.0 was software organized around pages, technologies, and businesses, Web 2.0 was organized around ordinary people and services. In the Web 1.0 era, internet users had the ability to read the digital content of a web page but could not create their own since the only person who could update the web page content was its webmaster. In other words, we would say that Web 1.0 was not oriented towards the creation of digital content by internet users.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction to Web 2.0 - Basic concepts
2. Application of Web 2.0 in education
3. Conclusions - Suggestions
References
Abstract
This study investigates the second generation of the World Wide Web, called Web 2.0. The revolution of Web2.0 over Web 1.0 was that it allowed Internet users not to be passive recipients who simply read the digital content of a web page, but enabled them to add digital content, share information, and collaborate online. The blast of Web 2.0 is therefore largely based on the electronic sharing of knowledge and information (Howe, 2006). In this paper the basic features ofWeb 2.0, its basic services, functions and tools will be firstly described. Next, concepts such as social networking services and social networks will be analyzed and the application of Web 2.0 in education as well as the benefits it can bring will be studied. In conclusion, a summary of the possibilities of Web 2.0 is made and the advantages, disadvantages and its role in the educational process are presented through a critical point of view.
Keywords - Web 2.0 technologies, Social Media, Social Networking
1. Introduction to Web 2.0 - Basic concepts
1.1 Web 2.0 definition
Web 2.0 is the popular term used for the second generation of the World Wide Web and applications such as blogs, wikis, RSS and social bookmarking. The Web creator Tim Berners -Lee sees Web 2.0 as a move that includes a variety of technologies such as blogs, wikis and podcasts, which shows the adolescence in which the Web is still.
One of the major differences between Web 2.0 and the traditional World Wide Web is the greater collaboration between Internet users and other users such as digital service providers and businesses. While Web 1.0 was software organized around pages, technologies, and businesses, Web 2.0 was organized around ordinary people and services (Turban, 2015). In the Web 1.0 era, internet users had the ability to read the digital content of a web page but could not create their own since the only person who could update the web page content was its webmaster. In other words, we would say that Web 1.0 was not oriented towards user-generated content, ie the creation of digital content by internet users.
1.2 Features of Web 2.0
The key features of Web 2.0 are:
(a) it is open, in the sense of open access by all internet users. Web 2.0 concerns all people of all ages and of any educational level and financial status, who use the Web for communication, collaboration, creation.
(b) it enables cooperation, collective action and social networking. Many proponents of Web 2.0 believe that the use of the Web is increasingly moving towards interaction and social networking, which can provide content that leverages the potential of the web through an interactive dynamic web page. Social networking services (social networks) are sites that allow each user to create a homepage for free. Users using social networking services can communicate with other users, upload files, communicate via instant messaging, or write to blogs. Social networks can also contain links to content created by internet users.
(c) it allows the personal expression and dissemination ofideas. Every internet user has the ability to "write" on blogs, forums, add comments on a topic that interests him, etc.
(d) it allows the creation and sharing ofdigital content. A typical example of digital information production and sharing is Wikipedia.
In addition, Schonfeld (2006) cites the global diffusion of innovative websites as an important feature of Web 2.0. As soon as a popular website appears that utilizes an innovative idea on the internet, other websites worldwide appear immediately.
According to Hinchcliffe (2006), Web 2.0 is a completely different platform than any other platform we have encountered so far. Unlike previous general-purpose IT platforms, Web 2.0 is communication-oriented rather than computing-oriented. Of course, there is computing, but what the Web basically does is connect information to people. The main difference is that hyperlinks link information and not programs that process data. All Internet users in the second generation of the World Wide Web are able to connect directly to the digital services they need without having specialized IT knowledge.
One of the main phenomena of Web 2.0 is the emergence of social media. The term social media describes the electronic platforms and online tools that internet users use to share thoughts, ideas, opinions, photos, videos, music, etc. The main feature of social media is that it is controlled and used by people and not organizations.
1.3 Web 2.0 services and tools
This section introduces the following basic services and tools of Web 2.0, as well as how they work.
Wikis and Wikipedia Wikilog or Wiki is a blog that allows all internet users to participate on an equal footing. Anyone can add, delete or change their digital content ("Wiki", 2014). A typical example of wikilog or wiki is Wikipedia.
Wikipedia is a global and multilingual collective encyclopedic enterprise set up on the internet and operating on the principle of wiki. Wikipedia aims to provide freely reusable content, with objective and verifiable information that anyone can modify and improve. Wikipedia does not allow the Internet user to simply create and edit digital content, but consists of a set of members who control and process the informational information "uploaded" by non-registered Internet users. Therefore, registered Wikipedia members are in the process of interacting with other internet users by informing them of specific changes regarding the information they "upload" to the Web ("Wikipedia", 2014).
RSS Syndication
The acronym RSS, from the English term Really Simple Syndication, refers to a standardized method of exchanging digital information over the Internet. An internet user can thus be informed via the RSS method automatically for events and news from those websites that support RSS, as long as a subscriber has subscribed to the respective service of each website ("RSS", 2014).
Blogs
A blog is a form of website, a discussion or an informative site on a specific topic that is published on the World Wide Web and consists of posts in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent. It is usually written by an individual or a group of contributors and the entries contain annotations and links to other websites, images and photos, which is easy to do with Google's Picassa tool (Boulos, Maramba, & Wheeler, 2006).
Podcast
It is a digital multimedia file that is distributed over the internet using republishing streams for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. It can be created by anyone with a microphone, recording software and internet connection ("Podcasting", 2014).
It is an iPod-inspired term as it is a combination of the words broadcast and iPod of Apple Computer Corporation and refers to any combination of software and hardware that allows the automatic download of audio content in Mp3 format for listening, whenever it is easier for the user (EDUCAUSE, 2005b). Podcast audio files are automatically downloaded by content management programs such as iTunes and Windows Media Player.
Vodcast
The term is a combination of "video on command" (vod) and podcast ("Vodcast", 2014). In this case the material is presented in the form of digital video and audio format and is used to differentiate it from the Podcast that contains only audio files.
Virtual World
It is a computer-based, multimedia-based environment that typically operates via the Web and is designed so that users can "live" and interact through their graphical representation of themselves, known as avatars (Dickey, 2005). . The most well-known examples of virtual worlds are Second Life (http://secondlife.com/), There (http://www.there.com/) and Active Worlds (https://www.activeworlds.com/ index.html).
Online games
These are games based on text or with complex graphics and virtual worlds that are played on some form of computer network, usually the Internet. Key features of these games are interaction and interactivity. Remarkable is their fun, exciting and attractive character as well as the use of prior knowledge. Other advantages are feedback, enhanced self-assessment and sociability, and the fact that they are multi-sensory, active, experiential learning (Papastergiou, 2009).
Tagging
Tagging is the ability to characterize with semantic keywords as descriptive tags (tags) of any digital object, such as: web pages, photos, texts (Anderson, 2007). It is a very common method of categorizing information used both in the storage and classification of content created by users themselves, mainly in blogs, and in the search for content created by other users (Smith, 2008).
Through this application, the term "social bookmarking" has emerged. The tagging process is used to distribute and exchange classified content, as users share the personal rankings they create and personal search methods for whatever interests them with other web users (Anderson, 2007, Vrana et al, 2013).
The most popular social bookmarking services are:
- Delicious, where users present and tag their favorite websites (bookmarks), and
- Flickr, where users share and tag their photos. More specifically, users are given the opportunity to organize their data, while at the same time socializing, knowing other people through common characterizations for photos.
Mashups
By mashup we mean the combination and use of data and applications from different websites into one. They are implemented through open programming interfaces / platforms (open APIs ’ - Application Programming Interfaces), such as Yahoo’s Pipes, Google Mashup Editor, and Microsoft’s Popfly and contribute to the functionality of websites (Vrana et al., 2013).
Mashups usually consist of graphics, text, audio and video files, which are drawn from various media such as blogs, wikis, YouTube, Google Maps and are combined to give us the desired result. The most important categories of mashups applications are the following (Jinjiu, 2010):
- Representation & search applications on a geographical map
- Photo & video projection applications
- Smart search applications
- File sharing application
- News applications
More specifically, a typical example is the Google service, Google Maps, through which map information is provided by location maps. In addition, mashups applications are used a lot in product evaluation websites, services (amazon.com, Tripadvisor.com, etc.), gathering a number of published user opinions.
1.4 Social Media
The term social media refers to the electronic platforms and tools used by internet users to share thoughts, opinions, photos, music and videos with each other (Turban, 2015). Most social media services enable users to chat, comment, interact with each other, as well as share any kind and quality of information that can "travel" through the plethora of applications offered by the internet. The two main differences in relation to traditional forms of communication are firstly the extent to which information can be disseminated and, secondly that the user is the main protagonist of information transmission and not just a passive receiver of information (Hairetakis, 2010).
According to Mayfield (2008), social media can be divided into four categories: Social News, Social Sharing, Social Bookmarking and Social Networks, the operation of which is presented below.
- Social news are sites with news and articles that allow the user to comment and vote. The articles that get the most user votes are upgraded and promoted to readers (Digg, Sphinn, Newsvine, BallHype).
- Social sharing are sites that enable the user to create and share audio and video files (Youtube, Vimeo, Flickr).
- Social bookmarking are sites that enable the user to find and store websites and useful information. Bookmarks are stored online and shared with other users (Delicious, Faves, BlogMarks, Diigo).
- Social networks are probably the most common form of social media as it offers users the opportunity to have direct communication with each other. Through social networking sites, distances are eliminated and users can communicate with each other, be informed and exchange information about their interests and activities (Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, LinkedIn).
1.5 Social Networking
According to the following definition of social networking:
“ Social networking is the use ofspecial websites and applications that allow users to communicate with each other by sending personal information, comments, messages, images and videos, and finding people with similar interests” ("Social networking", 2014).
There are thousands of social networking sites, which differ in the details as well as in the layout of the features they offer. Social networking sites are constantly updated as they improve their features and applications. These sites allow any user to create a homepage for free. Users using social networking services can communicate with other users, upload files, communicate via instant messaging, or write to blogs. Social networks can also contain links to content created by internet users.
1.6 Popular Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites are very popular and attract millions of users every day because they are free, offer easy information sharing, access and privacy and easy to find individuals and groups with common interests. Below there are some of the most popular social networks, such as Facebook, Myspace, Youtube and LinkedIn.
Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and three of his college classmates. It was originally intended for Harvard students, but gradually expanded to 2,000 more colleges in the United States (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007). Now, it is a cultural phenomenon that extends across the globe and is open to the general public. Although registration is now open to the public, the site continues to serve demographically educational communities, focusing on group networking and social activism. Users can communicate with their contacts via email and notify them when they update their personal information. They also have the opportunity to use the countless applications and tools provided by the Facebook site, to interact with other users. Everyone has free access to participate in networks related through university, jobs or geographical areas. In recent years it has emerged as the undisputed leader among social networking sites.
MySpace is an extremely popular, high-traffic social networking site that launched in August 2003. In My Space benefits the ability to upload and share video, audio and video files, as well as a blog are included. Blogging is not the main activity of My space, as the site focuses on social networking. One of the newest additions to My Space is apps, which include games, surveys, images and various online features.
YouTube is a popular website (video sharing) that allows you to store, search and play digital movies. Created in February 2005, it uses Adobe Flash Video technology to display a wide variety of user-generated content, including movie clips, TV clips, video and music clips, and amateur content such as video blogging but also short original videos.
Everyone can watch the saved digital movies (videos), while the registered members can save an unlimited number of movies with a time limit of fifteen minutes for each video. At the bottom of each of the films is the number of members who have seen them, so that the most popular ones can stand out. Also, a user can state whether he likes a video or not. Unregistered users can simply watch the videos, while registered users are allowed to upload an unlimited number of videos.
LinkedIn is a professional social networking website. Launched in May 2003, it currently has over 90 million registered users, spanning in more than 200 countries worldwide. It is a professional network, which helps to find old and current classmates and partners and keep in touch, look for a job or new business opportunities and ask questions about work and business (LinkedIn, 2014). LinkedIn is characterized by various functions, the main ones being the creation and presentation of the profile of its members, the possibility of detailed presentation of work experience and educational background, the possibility of registering personal information and interests, networking and interaction with connected members, the possibility providing recommendations from colleagues, associates and general members of the network with which one is connected, as well as the publication and sharing of posts, presentations, etc.
2. Application of Web 2.0 in education
The rapid evolution of technology in recent years and its integration into all areas of our lives is now a fact. One of the areas in which this integration of new technologies is reflected is in education. Web 2.0 technologies are one of the digital technologies that are increasingly helping to change some characteristics of current and future students and these changes may require radical changes in learning and te aching methods.
These technologies are flexible, enhance collaborative problem solving, add value, enhance student participation in learning communities, have minimal cost and require minimal time from teachers. Web 2.0 features allow students to connect with each other, create, generate information, videos and applications on a global scale, as well as comment, train, create and actively participate in the learning process. The student should be the focus and the teacher should be by his side as a supervisor and guide (Hewitt & Forte, 2006). Another aspect of Web 2.0 is interactivity, which allows students to publish and share their content, as well as critique to other students' content.
The use of Web 2.0 in education is not only important for students but also for teachers. Teachers can use Web2.0 in a variety of ways to generate educational opportunities for students. Tools like wikis, blogs and virtual environments seem to have unlimited possibilities in the field of education. All of these tools allow teachers and students to use the Internet more as a platform and not just as a means of information.
2.1 Web 2.0 services and educational benefits
This sectionpresents how to use Web 2.0 services in education Wikis Wikis are a network communication and collaborative tool that can be used to engage students in educational programs with others in a collaborative environment (Parker & Chao, 2007). According to Duffy and Bruns (2006), students can use a wiki to develop research projects, add summaries of their work, and create a collaborative bibliography, as well as publish course material and notes, giving the ability for all students to edit and comment on them immediately. For their part, teachers can use wikis as a knowledge base, which will allow them to share concerns and thoughts about teaching practices and be able to publish and document them.
Wikis can also be used as a presentation tool in place of traditional software, such as PowerPoint, so that students can comment directly and review the content of the presentation as it occurs. Wikis, although they can have multiple uses in education, have only recently begun to apply their capabilities to higher educ ation. Teachers expect that wikis will facilitate not only communication, but also the collective identification, shaping and exchange of knowledge, which are essential qualities in an educational context (Reinhold, 2006).
Blogs
Blogs, that is, social networking technologies, have the potential to provide educational support to students and teachers. The use of blogs in the field of education is a common practice that is proven, among other things, by the number of educational blogs in Greece, usually by people working in education (teachers, school principals, educational organizations). The profile of the student has now changed too much in social, cultural, economic, but also in pedagogical level, so now there is a need for a student-centered curriculum (Williams & Jacobs, 2004).
Blogs enhance students to have more creative, intuitive, critical, analytical and collaborative thinking. Students are becoming more social as blogs enable them to express their opinions, encourage them to collaborate, have autonomy and interaction with peers, flexibility in teaching and greater access to quality information. As for teachers, they can create their own blog for any topic or lesson they choose, updating it regularly by adding announcements, links and assignments for the lesson and giving their students the opportunity to participate, write comments, opinions and questions about daily news or topics of interest, to express their views on the activities they did in class and to say what they think about them. They are a means of free expression, reaction and connection and favor the creation of "communities", while the dynamics of collaborative filteringrecommendation / reporting offers ways to evaluate and critique learning. In addition, another important dimension is that it reduces the feelings of isolation that may accompany distance education.
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- Quote paper
- Serafeim A. Triantafyllou (Author), 2014, Web 2.0 technologies in education. A brief study, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/921944
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