I also thought it would be interesting to share some of the websites I read daily that don't have anything to do with e-learning, but lots to do with web 2.0 in one way or another. This is particularly important because, like most things that are technology-related, reports like What Is Web 2.0? are obsolete as soon as they're published - to know what the issues are, you have to keep on top of the scene. Why not share yours, either below, in the Emerge del.icio.us feed or by tagging a post with "web 2.0 sources"?
Web 2.0 news and discussion
Original Signal is an aggregator that links to the major tech news sites - places like TechCrunch, GigaOm, Read/Write Web etc. It's a great way to see stories as they emerge. There are loads of channels, but the web 2.0 page is a good starting point.
Techmeme analyses discussion topics in various blogs and works out what the major tech topics of the day are by looking at links and trackbacks. It's another good way to get a snapshot of the zeitgeist.
The Social Web is a blog run by Steve O'Hear, who is based in London and has more of a UK perspective.
Personally, I find sites like Slashdot and Digg a little asinine, but they're good for picking up the geekier stories. Slashdot in particular often features legal stories and political issues that may have an impact on the tech sector.
More general web 2.0 sites / blogs / etc
MetaFilter, I think, is required reading. Stories are less technological but the brief is to feature "the best of the web", be it blogs, political journalism, art, videos or sites that are interesting for their own sake.
I'm also a very heavy user of the Google web comments Firefox plugin. This gives you a little icon you can click on as you browse the web, that will list the last six posts from the blogosphere that link to the current site. It's particularly useful when I'm researching an article for my blog or a response for a journalist; reading commentary around the subject usually dramatically widens my understanding of an issue.
Overview for Keywords: e-learning, links, web 2.0 sources
Blogs with Keywords: e-learning, links, web 2.0 sources
Comments
Hi Ben – you raise a really interesting point about the geography of different interests within the blogosphere. I’m not certain in this respect that EdTech operates any differently from other groups – I’d link here to David Armano’s influence ripple diagram (http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2006/08/influence_rippl.html) which although is too hierarchal for my liking, at least starts to give a visual representation of how network clusters operate.
I think the question then becomes – how is EdTech different from other networks, and does this difference call for alternative approaches?
I think that Josie has something when she suggest that EdTech may not be different from other networks. It's tempting to look at a well-linked and populated network and conflate the number and , say, geographical spread of links with influence.
I can only find a second-hand reference to Sunstein
"According to Sunstein (2001a), the Internet may not only be insufficient as a means
to bolster democracy, but can indeed even have detrimental consequences for the evolution of public opinion, namely insofar as it facilitates and encourages segmentation into mall and narrowly issue-based communities, which in turn results in what he labels
“group polarization”:
“With respect to the Internet and new communications technologies, the implication
is that groups of like-minded people, engaged in discussion with one another, will end up
thinking the same thing that they thought before – but in more extreme form.” (2001: 65)" Brandenburg referencing Sunstein
but this gives the idea that even active networks are sparse and can be regarded as silos that seem to cover the same ground but are actually largely discrete.
A useful concept can be one from Wenger et al of 'boundary-crossing objects' that are people and/or artefacts that impinge on discrete networks and communities.
I think that people who play this role need a thick skin as they may be regarded with suspicion from both sides of the boundary.