http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Edtechpost/~3/195037402/

http://solr.bccampus.ca/wiki/index.php/SREB_Web2.0

Next week I am back in Atlanta to give a talk on “Web 2.0″ to the educational technology working group of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB).

At this point in the game, giving a talk on “Web 2.0″ is pretty daunting, not because the topic is that difficult but because it’s been done so well so many times before that the challenge is how to keep it fresh and interesting.

I thought about this for a while and came up with the above approach. First off, rather than try to speak of “Web 2.0″ in the abstract, I decided (inspired by Cogdog’s recent examples) to tell a story, in this case my own story of the various points where I came to accept that something new IS going on with Web 2.0. Like many, my tendency was to try and understand the present and the future in terms of the past. While at times this can serve you well, it also results in a tendency to underestimate the magnitude of true discontinuities. And it seems to me that anyone still needing a “what is Web 2.0″ talk is likely suffering from this phenomenon, underestimating the disruption these innovations are already affecting.

The other approach I thought I’d try is to do the presentation as a page in mediawiki and then use the mediawiki presentation script during the presentation. (As an aside, I modified the script to work a little better, if you care you can install it from this page.) The idea, obviously, being to

1. use Web 2.0 tools to talk about Web 2.0


2. turn the presentation into a demonstration of some Web 2.0 phenomenom (write once/read anywhere; participatory web, etc)

That’s where you come in. I am about to send this page off to the organizers so that they can circulate it to the attendees with the request that they add to it, but I’m also looking for feedback and additions for you.

Each section has two links to areas I’m hoping people will add to. Each section heading has a link where I have added some additional notes, links and an invitation to steer the talk on that particular topic. And at the bottom of each section, there is a link for people to add their own stories of how they came to stop doubting and embrace the change being heralded in by Web 2.0. It’s there that I especially hope you will consider adding links back to your own blogs, your own personal stories of how you came to understand these various aspects of Web 2.0

If you decide to, you can edit the wiki using a generic account I’ve set up (username:wiki, password:wikiwiki). I’m hoping for at least a couple of outside contributions in an effort to demonstrate to decision makers from 16 southern states the power of the network. So please, consider adding a link or note on one of the sub-pages, and I will try to then work it into the larger presentation. - SWL

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Edtechpost/~3/204256115/

(I have a half-dozen posts to write that don’t seem to be getting done, so this will have to suffice for now. Maybe over the holidays - oh yeah, right, “holidays.” Time *off*.)

Tonight (and tomorrow, we don’t discriminate) is one of our biggest celebrations of the year, Winter Solstice. I hope you have a great one too and drive away any winter doldrums as you welcome the rebirth of the light.

And being in a relfective mood I thought I’d note some things I am grateful for from the past year, and things I am wishing for in 2008

What I am grateful for in 2007

• My family, and both mine and their continued good healths.


• Being able to work in my chosen field and live where I live. Any gripeing you hear me do throughout the year is unfounded. I am truly fortunate.


• The fellowship of the Unitarian Universalist community we are a part of in Victoria. Their ability to embrace difference and diversity while also standing up for social justice is an example I always hope to emulate.


• Twitter, for all its failings. Or rather, for the people who I get to hang with in Twitter. Their support, conversation and everyday companionship means so much to me.


• Being able to see so many good friends at different events this year. I “see” them everyday online, but the amount of cool ideas and projects that come out of even 10 minutes jamming over lunch or between sessions in a hallway just can’t be beat


• Brother Leon and The Whoremonks, for saving my soul, getting me to play music and jamming with me no matter how bad it sounds to anyone else


• To The Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Amon Tobin, The White Stripes, Beethoven, Beck, Blockhead, and M.I.A. for all doing their part to make joyous raucous music that lifts me up

And my wishes for 2008?

• More time (and more focus) to get more skills, do some development work


• For Dr. Bruce Landon’s continued and speedy recovery.


• That my proposal for a new “social and web 2.0” Edutools site is accepted and supported


• That Gardner Campbell will come out West and I get some time to hang with him

Blessed Be.