Introduction to Module 4 - Social Technologies

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The internet is not yet a decade-and-a-half old, but has already caused tectonic shifts in how we communicate, do business, socialise, and learn.

Tim Berners-Lee’s original vision for what was to become the World Wide Web was quite simple (grammatical errors are his!):

The aim would be to allow a place to be found for any information or reference which one felt was important, and a way of finding it afterwards. The result should be sufficiently attractive to use that it the information contained would grow past a critical threshold, so that the usefulness the scheme would in turn encourage its increased use.
(Berners-Lee, 1989/90, ‘Conclusion’ section).

The internet was thus conceived as a participative, social technology. But as with any technology, it would be in practice, in the uses that people saw and found for it, that the internet would truly take form. Human needs and ingenuity would determine how the internet would be leveraged to add value for communication, business, socialising, and learning.

[You can click into the map below to explore the structure of Module 4]:




In this module you will have the opportunity to use social ‘web 2.0’ technologies to interact as you:

* consider what these technologies mean to you in your context (Discussion Part 1)

* explore the potential they have to add value to teaching and learning (Discussion Part 2)

* evaluate whether this value can translate into paying customers; investors who will support entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs who seek to market and implement social technologies (Discussion Part 3).

Enjoy your explorations - we look forward to learning with you!

Ada, Micah, & Adam

Discussion Part 1:
After reading the "Introduction" to our module, please post memos on CrowdTrust expressing your understanding of what Social Technologies and Web 2.0 mean to you. Please tag memos with at least the following, so it is convenient for others to search and respond: M4-1, 522.

(Part 1 memos should be posted latest Tues, Oct 2 for adequate discussion time.)

Please proceed to Discussion Part 1, in CrowdTrust (note this will only take you direct to the Discussion Part 1 thread if you are already logged in to CrowdTrust)