Task 1B- Web 2.0…. A Whole New World

 Now before beginning the BAPP course if someone would have asked me what Web 2.0 was, I would have absolutely no clue… Despite the fact I have used it several times a day, for several years, for several purposes!

Web 2.0 is the ability to communicate through the internet, breaking the barriers of simple creator and reader relationships. Sites such a Facebook, Twitter or other social networking sites are probably the first that spring to mind, yet others such as wiki’s Google and blogs all create web based communities in which people can contribute and have input.

  What did I use Web 2.0 for initially?

Well like most teenage girls I began using the internet for sites such as My Space, then as I got older it progressed to Facebook, before becoming hooked on Twitter and Instagram. These were used purely for social purposes; catching up with others, looking at friends holiday and nights out pictures, and seeing all the juicy gossip from Twitter about my favourite celebrities. I never realised just how important this could be for my career or the huge platform it provides professionally.

Tim O’Reilly’s Meme successfully and clearly captures the uses of Web 2.0 as a platform

(O’Reilly, T (2006) ‘What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software’- www.oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html)

   Once you discover all the possibilities and avenues to explore within Web 2.0, you understand just how much this can help within your line of work and what these networks can lead to.

Participation… Do I need to do it?

  Now with endless networks and social media sites, is it important to get involved? How should I get involved? How often should I get involved? These are all questions I’m sure many of us have had, not just on a social level, but a professional one.

Hamilton (2000) sums up why it is important to participate saying, ‘participation is a function, in part, of the reduction of barriers to access (such as time, skill and financial commitment) and that an increase in participation can contribute to the successful building of relationships and the democratisation of media (Hamilton 2000,p.371).

  I began to see just how much participation on Web 2.0 has altered my life and career.

The biggest example of this happened about a year ago. Whilst aimlessly scrolling through Facebook I came across a post from a classmate at Performing Arts School. This person works for a University in Malaysia, who was at the time interviewing new Performing Arts teachers, and simply was posting if anyone in the UK may be interested.

I replied and pursued this, getting into contact with the president of the uni, then via Skype (another handy 2.0 tool) and sending videos via DropBox and Youtube (yes two more 2.0 tools in there), becoming successful in the process and teaching out is Asia for several months.

   Without participating in these networks, getting a job in Malaysia would be extremely difficult, with long drawn out phone calls and letters and I would have almost never have known the job was available in the first place.

  I have also had several job offers though the network Linkd In, a great Web 2.0 network linking like for like professionals. Since posting my CV becoming active within the site, I have had several emails from Schools and Institutes offering me jobs based on my profile and what they have seen on Linkd In.

Now someone tell me participation is not important???? 

In the next few blogs I will continue with journey of discovering the endless possibilities within Web 2.0