New social-sharing applications are transforming the Internet from a read-only (Web 1.0) environment to a read-write ecology that many are calling Web 2.0. These tools (e.g., weblogs and wikis) enable Internet users to publish information online almost as easily as they can read online, and they have tremendous potential for learning. This article provides illustrative comparisons of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 tools to illuminate three key characteristics of the Web 2.0 platform: (a) user-initiated publishing of information without significant technical knowledge, (b) social networking, and (c) online communities formed around specific content. Key concepts, terms, and technologies central to Web 2.0, including Education 2.0, Web 2.0 students, Web 2.0 platforms and tools, and collective wisdom, are considered, along with implications for education and future research.These newspaper headlines raise questions regarding an emergence of a new Internet generation (Web 2.0 platform), its corresponding digital learning tools (Web 2.0 tools), their use by a new generation of learners (Web 2.0 students), and the promise of their use in a new kind of education (Education 2.0). This article defines each of these terms and considers implications for teaching and learning. To provide a foundation for understanding the nature of Web 2.0 students and Education 2.0, we begin with the Web 2.0 platform and its tools.
WEB 2.0 PLATFORMBriefly stated, Web 2.0 is the next phase of Internet usage. The first phase, Web 1.0, focused on presenting information. The next phase, Web 2.0, enables both presentation and participation.The Read Web, sometimes called Web 1.0, which gained popularity in the mainstream in the early 90s, allowed for information presentation. In Web 1.0, the creation of Web sites allowed broadcasting large amounts of information on the Web, and search engines made it easy to locate information. However, the ability to broadcast was limited to the few who had knowledge of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML, the language for presenting information on a Web site) or to those who had the technical know-how to use sophisticated publishing tools like Front Page or Dreamweaver. Thus, for the most part, the Internet was a reading environment for many.Today's Read-Write Web, often called Web 2.0, allows for information presentation and participation in creating information. Because knowledge of HTML or complicated publishing tools is no longer required, anyone can not only read the information on the Web, but also write to it, thus the name the Read-Write Web. Disagreement exists on a definition of Web 2.0 (Alexander, 2006), however, many agree that Web 2.0 is a transition in the use of Internet-based software programs. That is, long-standing Internetbased software programs have been used to develop new applications (e.g., weblogs and wikis) that allow multi-way communication and collaborative information searching, such as the tagging on the social bookmarking site del.icio.us. Web 2.0 "is not a technological revolution, it is a socia...
