Web 2.0 in Five Minutes

Here is a wonderful video created by Micheal Wesch, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Kansas State University. It eloquently shows what Web 2.0 is and means in about 5 minutes. Take a look. What do you think?

Final Project Proposal

Michelle Dastyck said...

For my Final Project I plan to launch a new ecommerce site - ShesStillGotIt.com from MichelleCosmetics.com. This it a totally new site will be created to sell fast and easy to use makeup kits designed for busy moms. Each kit has seven pieces and will take women from Play Dated to Date Night!

Project Proposal

For my final project I will create a web site for the business: Inspired Education! This will include a free trial page where people can try out our services for one month. Subscribers will be able to get a free gift basket of emails containing inspiring, educational things for one month straight.
Does anyone have any suggestion on whether I should call this a service or a project?

Final Project Proposals

I thought I would start a new thread to post our proposals to. I thought I had already submitted mine, but I couldn't find it.

Proposal:
I'm in the process of creating a dynamic site using PHP and MySQL to list all available childcare resources in Southern California. The static part of the site is mostly finished, but I'm still in the process of building the database structure and the PHP scripting. If the site is not complete enough to constitute a final project at the end of the term, I have also prepared a business plan as a back up.

Bowling for Virginia Tech

The terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech yesterday brings many things to mind, the horror of random gun violence, the deep sadness of parents who are now suffering the pain of their precious child dieing before they do, how those who are normally good people can do bad things, gun control - pro or con, the tenuous nature of our lives, the potentially violent influence of video games, and more -- however, this is an E-Commerce blog.

The thing I want to point out is how so many of the students had cell phones that were used to take instant photos and videos and then upload them immediately to the Web and to TV stations. Within seconds of the event, even while it was still happening, the images and sounds were being sent throughout the globe and shown on our TVs and computers. What implications does this have? Can it be a force that can help prevent this kind of violence in the future? What does it say about the amazing connectivity of our world, and the disconnect from it that would allow someone to even consider doing this?

On a personal note. In my classroom I once had an incident where the campus police came to apprehend one of my students because he was sending threatening email to other students and another teacher. Up until then I had never felt threatened by him. He seemed like a normal student, though he was a quiet and moody person. Suddenly, I felt vulnerable and frightened.

School normally feels like such a secure and safe place. It's disturbing when that sense of security is punctured by events like these.

Rules, rules and more rules

In trying to answer a students question about where rules, like the "rule of seven" came from I ran across this Web page from the North East Texas Consortium, a site that supports some colleges in that area. I loved the rule collection. It consolidated much of what I've learned over the years about making Web pages more understandable and how to prepare instructions. The "Kevin Bacon rule " is simply fun. Check it out.

http://www.netnet.org/instructors/coursedev/general.htm

Here's another reference to the Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two in Wikipedia (Wikipedia was originally created in Pacific Beach, btw).

Is there really a Web 2.0?

I have a friend who recently went on a major rant over use of the term Web 2.0. He pointed out that the term is really misleading because there is actually not a second generation of the Web. Sites such as Wikipedia, and YouTube, LimeWire and applications such as RSS (Really Simple Syndication) are not using any radically new technology, just old technology used in a new way. The major difference lies in the fact that these sites and technologies are now two way streets instead of one. Information no longer simply flows from provider to user, client to server, things flow back and forth.

Courtesy of O'Reilly, the folks who helped coin the term "Web 2.0" here's a list of Web 1.0 entities and their Web 2.0 equivalents:

Web 1.0 --> Web 2.0
DoubleClick --> Google AdSense
Ofoto --> Flickr
Akamai --> BitTorrent
mp3.com --> LimeWire
Britannica Online --> Wikipedia
personal websites --> blogging
evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation --> search engine optimization
page views --> cost per click
screen scraping --> web services
publishing --> wikis
directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness --> syndication

Since there's not a radical new technology being used here, just technology being used differently do you think Web 2.0 is still a good moniker? Is it simply a marketing ploy or does it have real meaning? Is there another name you think would be better?

Also, what do you think the impact of this interactive way of using the Web is having on eCommerce? How do you think you can use "Web 2.0" stuff in your efforts to create a viable business on the Web?