Monday, February 1, 2010

Web 2.0 Tools


Having completed a project similar to this for our Web 2.0 workshop with Craig, one of the most useful sites I had bookmarked at that point and time was http://www.go2web20.net. You can choose different tags from the menu on the right to sort and refine your search; and as a visual learner, I highly enjoy the sites' logos as well as being able to mouse over and see a quick description of the site.

In regards to my own interests, many of the music web 2.0 sites are for creating mixes or finding a specific genre of music. Of the "music" web 2.0 sites listed, few if any actually work with classroom concepts you would find in a general music classroom. Even though I still find this a very useful source of web 2.0 information, I also stumbled upon another site that specifically refers to the newest and most popular 2.0 tools available on the web.

This site http://www.feedmyapp.com/ is also very visual in its format and allows the user to quickly see what has recently been added to the endless possibilities of applications as well as user's feedback on these newest web 2.0 programs. While searching through the apps listed, the most interesting new site I found was:



http://suicidemachine.org/








Now while I fully admit some people may find this site offensive even in the title all by itself, it certainly served to capture my attention. I know we have discussed many of the web 2.0 tools we have signed up for according to the requirements of a particular class, but have never gone back to look at once that class was over. (I know I have new people following my twitter posts weekly, and I have to say they must be waiting for something because I haven't posted on that site in months.) This is the purpose of this site, to quickly and easily delete log-ins.

According to the site itself, "This machine lets you delete all your energy sucking social-networking profiles, kill your fake virtual friends, and completely do away with your Web2.0 alterego." I find it very interesting that people are beginning to realize the overwhelming amount of networking possibilities out there and are providing ways for people to disentangle themselves from other sites.

Now the question may be asked, what exactly does this have to do with education? I think that as future technology coordinators, we need to provide our staff with the necessary means to disentangle themselves from some of these networking sites, especially those that may be open to students or do not contain the privacy filters needed to "protect" teachers. Having worked for a district that has already fired a teacher for their "MySpace" comments, I feel that this is vital for teachers and staff everywhere.


4 comments:

  1. Nice! When I tire of my policy of "never say 'no' to a social networking invitation" I'll be using this!

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  2. I am so intrigued about that suicide 2.0 site that I think I may just use it to delete me Myspace account. I think you made a good point with saying that people are now starting to understand the ugly truth about social networks. Especially for those educators who don't realize the implications that simple words or pictures can have. As for your first 2.0 example, are most of the sites similar to the one your found, for example, are they all not geared towards educators or are there some sites that teachers could use in their classrooms?

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  3. I am compelled to respond to your post about the Web 2.0 Suicide Machine site, which I had not heard of before I read your post. After doing more research about this site, I am surprised by how many people have commented about it in different websites. For example, the Los Angeles Times http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/01/facebook-fights-back-disallows-the-suicide-machine.html explains that Facebook has blocked this site’s IP address, which disallows the “virtual suicide”. There are other websites that have other information about it as well. I think the answer is to educate our students so that they can avoid the need to “disentangle themselves” from the Web 2.0 in the first place. My other concern with this website is long-term effects of performing such a “suicide”. What if a person wants to go back and use a social network down the road? How does this deleting process affect your Internet choices later on in life? This phenomenon reminds me of the mess we are in with the economy. People are looking for immediate gratification and then try to rectify the resulting situation with a quick fix and they are not looking into the long-term ramifications. We need to teach our students, and adults for that matter, that we need to think before we act and that the consequences of our actions cannot always be erased.

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  4. First, in response to Krista's comment, the vast majority of the sites are not geared at all towards music teachers as no real education in music is used as opposed to just choosing stations or music choices that you like. I have found an interesting site which I'll be sharing in the next blog about an actual teaching site. Secondly to Sherry, it was very interesting to find out about facebook in regards to the suicide site. I especially liked your last thought with taking more time to think through the ramifications, although I do think this could also apply to people joining some of these sites in the first place. Thanks for the feedback ladies (and gentleman).

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