Web 2.0 means awesomeness.

Last week, Gardner Campbell talked about the importance of constructing a digital web identity, and this week we learned (or should have, if everyone read the three assigned articles) what it exactly Web 2.0 means.

Web 2.0 means awesomeness. It means the ability to communicate with large groups of people instantly. It means sharing knowledge with people freely and without discrimination. Going on the web now and using  Google or another search engine site I can find million upon million web pages containing information on everything and anything I would wish to know.

Web 2.0 has completely changed the way the internet and the world works and now it’s impossible to think how we would exist without it.

I remember when I first discovered the amazing-ness of Youtube and Wikipedia back in high school. I spent hours and hours of my life looking at random videos or  ay random articles for fun. Now when I want to watch a music video, where do I go? Youtube. Where do I go when I need to find information fast about a particular topic? Wikipedia.

Social Networking has also changed so much about our culture and personal relationships. Now I can stay in touch with my friends who live all around the world (i.e. Australia, Panama, Germany), with a few simple clicks of my mouse. I can even call people’s phones in the U.S. or Canada with my gmail account! How crazy is that?

Another great thing about Web 2.0 is the expansion of the ways we can tell stories. Something that is becoming increasingly popular is that of transmedia/ Alternate Reality Games (ARG) which allows players to immerse themselves into a game in which they can actively change the course of the game. We also can tell stories through our flickr accounts, facebook, blogs etc. The ways to tell stories are continuously expanding as developers dream up ways to share information in a fast, efficient and entertaining way.

End result: Web 2.0 is crazy cool! (I sound so academic here, right? )  However, as awesome as Google is, I am slightly terrified about Google taking over the world/internet D:

I am too distractable sometimes

I have a three hour break from my last class until ds106 which one would think would leave plenty of time to read three articles for class tonight and then blog about them.

But today I was distracted. First it was a surprise skype chat from my friend in Australia (it’s Australia day: Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie, Oy, Oy, Oy!) who is rarely on the internet (she didn’t even have a computer when she met me, the horror!) and then the first article was EVEN MORE distracting!

“Web 2.0 Storytelling: Emergence of A New Genre” by Bryan Alexander and Alan Levine has a host of different and cool links that they talk about in their article. So what do I do? I click them of course and spend over an hour looking at all these things I have never seen before!

I’m obsessed with this site right now. Also this is funny and reminds me of “The Digital Story of Nativity”

So while I managed to finish the first article, the other two have fallen by the wayside for now. I will post later tonight my thoughts on all three. And now to class!