NWELC and Bjorn goes Web 2.0

The last two days, Jenn and I have been attending the NWELC 2009 (Northwest eLearning Conference) at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa. Jenn works as technical support and Blackboard admin at IDLA (Idaho Digital Learning Academy), so she is attending this confernece because it is related to her job. So this should really have little or no interest for me.

I have been doing some voulenteer work for IDLA though, and I have a general interest for computer and IT, so I decided to come along with her to the conference. And the funny thing is that it turned out that I DO have some interest in this. During this conference we have seen how new technology is incorporated in learning, and we have even seen how online virtual games are used. I had no idea that learning is taken to these levels, and I found it to be slightly silly but also fascinating to see our instructor being in an online environment with several of the attendees present in the room at the same time as he was talking to us in person. Imagine students doing scientific experiments in this virtual environment. That surely puts less limitations to what can be done, compared to students doing experiments with things that can be toxic or even catch fire and explode.

The most striking session though, was one that included refernces to Web 2.0. I didn't know the exact meaning of this and did a quick search for "Web 2.0". I expected to maybe find a development tool like .net or a web page creating application, but I realized that this is a term for the "new" internet. And it turned out that there is also a Web 1.0. So what is this, and what kind of improvment is Web 2.0 over Web 1.0? Hasn't the internet always been the same? Different types of html brought to us over a http protocol?

The session didn't give me any answer to that, but the things I picked up during the session, added to the things I know form before and my own experience, gave me something to think about. I started looking back to the early days like 10-12 years ago when I had my first experiences with the internet. Back then I had a dial up 56K connection, and the internet was something that was made by people out there. The funny thing is though, I had such an interest in my car that I decided to create a website about it. So I got a copy of FrontPage, and created pages with history, pictures and specifications about these kind of cars. Then I contacted a friend of mine, and he provided a domain and server space for me through his company. Then he gave me login details and an adress to a ftp server, and I downloaded a ftp client and managed to upload my files. I still remember the feeling when I opened up IE, typed the adress to my index page and browsed my page for the first time. Wow, I was on the internet! I am still a little bit surprised that I managed to pull of this project, but back then I had an unlimited amount of time to spend on this, including the entire nights during the weekends. In additon, I had a huge interest in computers.

This was basicly Web 1.0. The content had to be made by people with the skills to create and upload their stuff, using special tools and applications. Once it was there, it was static content for other people to display and read only. Nothing more. Well, after a while, I added a guestbook to my page. Other people could leave feedback and to some extent put content into my page. I believe that must have been the first signs of what we know as Web 2.0.

Today, things have changed a little bit. If I wish to create a website today, the only thing I need is Google Applications. Or something similar. There I have all the tools and everythig I need to create a website quickly and upload it. When done, I would of course post links to my Facebook account, and maybe even Twitter about it. Maybe I don't need a website at all. Some pictures and comments on Facebook would probably do the same, and people could leave feedback directly on each picture. Not to mention a blog.. Wow, that would be even better. I can add both pictures and videos like I did in the blogs below about my motorbike.

So while listening to the discussion about Web 2.0, it suddenly dawned to me what Web 2.0 really is. And how things have changed since I did my first attempts to become one of the important guys creating content on the internet that I could push down to other people.

Sadly I didn't continue developing my website, because I sold the car, and my friend could no longer provide proper server space for my stuff. What is left of it can be found at www.evo500.no. But after being moved to a private server with no room for pictures, there is very little to see of my Web 1.0 project now.

Written by Bjorn Sveigdalen