When I first heard
the term “Web 2.0” I FREAKED out!!!! The questions that entered my head were:
What on Earth does this word mean??
How am I going to use/understand this new technology??
What have I got myself into??
The
definition of Web 2.0, as stated in Reader 1 that "It provides the opportunity for
the reader and creator to interact and more importantly, for reader to become
the creator.”
Little did I know
that I use Web 2.0 without out even realising it. Since being in school I have
used Wikipedia for research, YouTube has always been helpful and inspirational,
Google I have also used from a very young age. And however much I hate to admit
it I am one of the many people throughout the world that contributes to the
very large statistics of Facebook! Even though I may not use it (at the moment
to it’s full potential) in a professional light, I am using it! The pressure
was off slightly I was already operating what I now know as Web 2.0 yet apart
from Facebook I have always been the reader and never the creator, until now!
On my first glance
at Reader 1 again I panicked. It had lots of long words and phrases that I
found were made more complicated than necessary. I had to read it a few times
for it to get into my head and to simplify what it was actually saying. I also
researched for a simpler explanation and found this video on YouTube:
I have only just
discovered Web 2.0 and they are already moving into Web 3.0!!!!
Once understanding
Reader 1 my head went from question to question, from one subject to another. My
questions didn’t necessarily link to the subject at hand directly but I thought
were all important.
Are these social
network’s a help or a hindrance?
Is YouTube helping people share
their thoughts and feeling or helping people to copy?
Is moving on with technology
really helping the social skills of the new generation?
How many companies are
finally going to go out of business?
Are people
exposing themselves too much or in the right way?
Will
Professional Communication Technologies prevent/help us getting jobs in our
professional careers?
Are employees seeing things
they would rather not?
Is it helping with
communication or just giving people away to create what they would like to be
but on a screen?
Is it making people less
confident, social or able to communicate?
Are
you able to advertise for free?
Is it affecting human
social skills?
Are we in control of 2.0?
My
developments with Web 2.0 to date……………………
The first social
network I joined was Facebook. Initially I joined the network as a social basis,
while studying I met a lot of people from all over England and I wanted to keep
in touch with them. Facebook is an easy way to keep in contact and up to date with
what people are doing. I only accepted people I knew and that I want seeing my
profile.
When I then joined
Bodywork my views on Facebook dramatically changed. Each week we would have a
different guest teacher for a master class. The guest would already be in the
industry. They were always willing to help with questions about the business
and share where and what they had done professionally. We had teachers mention
about classes they held and to add them on Facebook as they advertise and
mention the classes on there. This was the moment that I realized that Facebook
could be an amazing way of networking. My Facebook profile has developed over
time to a means of my professional network.
Another thing that
evolved from this for me was twitter. I created a twitter account and added
Choreographers, Dance groups, Dance studios, Casting Directors and groups such
and Dance cast. I find twitter extremely useful for finding out about auditions
and classes.
Networking via
Facebook is extremely different to communicating face to face. I have two
contrasting thoughts; it is the easy way out to contact people and gives you a
false confidence then on the contrary it gives the less confident people some
help.
Are these social network’s a help or a
hindrance?
It is easy to
email someone and tell them that you enjoyed their class and if they have any
auditions approaching to let you know, however doing this in the flesh is
totally different. Emails can be miss read and there is no tone in the voice
which determines how you are saying things. One thing that I like to have and I
think you can tell a lot from is eye contact. This is lost through social
networking sites.
Is it making people less confident, social or
able to communicate?
I know a lot of
people approach a panel after an audition for feedback, a lot of people would
find it easier to email later. In this circumstance a lot of time the panel
request that they don’t get approached and an email is sent instead.
Is moving on with technology really helping
the social skills of the new generation?
You have the
choice and control of what appears, who sees it and the information you give.
Do employees check your name in Google? What appears? A drunken profile picture
on Facebook!
Are these social network’s a help or a
hindrance?
This is why it’s
so important to be professional and aware of what the consequences could be. A
friend of mine has once had to report a picture she found on Facebook. A friend
of hers had been tagged in a picture of a night out, she was able to flick
through the whole album. In this album she could see herself in the background
of a few of the pictures, after flicking through a few she found a picture that
had been taken up someone’s dress, once looking closely she saw that the
picture was up her dress. She was not a friend of this particular person, the
album was open for everyone to see. Does this push the limits? If she hadn’t
have looked through the album she would have never known. How do we control
what other people exhibit. After this happened I deleted my Facebook account, I
felt so strongly that I did not want things like this happening to me. After
removing my profile for a month I realized that whether or not I have a profile
I am still not able to control what other people put on their profiles of me.
Are you able
to advertise for free?
I was also
missing out on information about class, auditions etc. Web 2.0 is evolving
quick and is there any real way of controlling it? With Facebook we are not
really the initial creator, we can’t control everything on there, we have
options but we are unable to change the options we have. Maybe there should be
a hierarchy i.e. Oringinal Creator (creator of facebook), Additional creator/reader
(people with a profile who contribute to the site, Reader (people who have no
profile and just like to look). Bruns
(2007) argues that in fact there isn’t a step by step transition from reading
and consuming materials to making and sharing them online, more that each of us
as we participate are both producer and consumer (similar to the idea of
prosumer suggested above). He calls the process produsage (which it a
portmanteau of production and usage)
Are people exposing themselves
too much or in the right way?
A lot of people I know have uploaded their show reels
onto YouTube and this has contributed to them gained a job. When reading
through other peoples blogs I noticed a guy who has gained a job overseas by
sending the link of his show reel on YouTube.
Will Professional Communication
Technologies prevent/help us getting jobs in our professional careers?
As you can see a
lot of positive and negative issues raced through my head, which I have put
down in words with a few quotes to back up my beliefs however everyone is
entitled to their own opinions. I have also looked up what other people think
about Web 2.0.
Quote from
Internet (Anon 2012):
“Web 2.0 is transforming our society. Online tools that
support collaborative communities are redefining how firms do business, how
retailers engage customers, how politicians energize voters, how journalists
inform readers, how teachers educate students, how friends maintain
relationships, and how individuals shape their own identity.”
Quote from a
Friend:
“Young people say they are really social but to
actually hold a conversion with them is difficult. Having a Facebook profile
with lots of friends doesn’t mean your social, I think it should be called
cyber social!”
Freeman Dyson, physicist and principal architect of the theory of quantum
electrodynamics
"More than 90 per cent of the
technology that will affect our daily lives at the beginning of the 21st
century has not been invented. This means that more innovations will be
introduced in the next ten years than were produced throughout previous human
history."
Shirley Malcom, Head, Directorate for Education and Human Resource
Programs,
American
Association for the Advancement of Science
"Technology is about
connections--connecting people to each other, to ideas, and to possibilities.
Imagine being able to sample the atmosphere of a planet millions of miles away
and go hands-on with the universe--this is the stuff that gets kids excited
about science! What's there not to love?!"
I admit Web 2.0
can be extremely beneficial and effective however if you use it carefully and
with professional conduct. As Reader 1 says you have a choice, A choice of who
you look at, follow, download and share. Make the right choice!
Even though Hamilton
says that not everyone can either afford, have the time or the skills to use
Web 2.0 I think that nowadays it is extremely accessible, affordable and basic.
It only becomes as complicated as you make it.
“If people do not have
the instruments by which they can participate then they will be unable or
unwilling to participate in something (Hamilton 2000).”
From now on I will definitely look at what I am creating, saying,
sharing and following online a lot more seriously. It does concern me what the
evolvement on the Web will bring and what my children and grandchildren will be
doing online in the future. For my career I think it can be a very useful tool.
