Task 1b: comment on Reader 1 - Professional Communication Technology

So, here I am again trying to get on with the module 1 tasks. Unfortunately, I was ill the whole past week which put me back quite a bit in my studying plan. But, Web 2.0 technology has definitely helped my through this past week, especially to keep in touch with the world.

Before I read about Professional Communication Technology I didn't know something like web 2.0 existed. Web 2.0 includes networking sites (like Facebook and Twitter), blogs, collaboration sites which are all created to enable the users to share information. Creator and reader can interact and it's an opportunity for the reader to become the creator. Some of the features of a web 2.0 community include:

• 'Network as platform'
• Users of the site own and control their own data
• Users add content to the site -> the more users access the site and add data the better the site becomes
• Interface is user friendly, simple to use and quick to load
• It allows users to interact with each other, make formal and informal connections and share  --> Social Networking

Tim O'Reilly who is often reffered to as the originator of what defines web 2.0 has developed a meme of web 2.0. It looks at what identifies something as web 2.0 and what the conditions are under which communication or interactive processes occur. 

I think it shows very clearly what belongs to the term web 2.0 and on what principles each of the sites is based for instance Wikipedia is solely based on radical trusted while Gmail and Google Maps uses rich user experiences. Furthermore, it lists the core competencies of web 2.0, such as the architectures of participation, remixable data and transformations and harnessing collective intelligence.

Those core competencies represent the outcomes of the wider use of web 2.0 platforms in workspace alongside that of the social space.

Architectures of Participation Web 2.0 as a tool of networking and communication encourages and enables participation. 

I like the idea that participation is the ability of people to interact and it implies an active and passive aspect. To be able to participate you definitely have to have the facilities and instruments to participate, i.e. time money, skills, etc. 

Hamilton mcakes a good point when he notes that and increase in participation can contribute to the successful building of relationships and the democratisation of media. Of course, the more people share there opinion and views the more democratic it gets. Web 2.0 is making participation cheap, easy and quick and therfore accessible to more people.

Ulrich adds that each web 2.0 application has a base set of principles that enable users to participate, be creative and engage with other communities. I completly agree with Ulrichs suggestion that the key aspect of web 2.0 is that it is constantly evolving and that each platform is progressively developed and replaced. In my opinion that is what web 2.0 is, a platform for people to interact and share and, therefore, it has to be in a constant progress and change. 

Remixable data and transformations A key element of web 2.0 is the opportunity to share photos, music, text, ideas and opinions. So, I think Bruns has a got point when he says that each of us is producer and consumer at the same time. We all, f.i. share our ideas and opinions but at the same time we read and deal with other peoples point of view which makes us producer and consumer at the same time. Bruns calls this produsage which is a suitable term beause it combines both words to one which also happens to us when we use web 2.0 aplocations. 

Harnessing collective intelligence I like the idea of Feenberg and Bakardjieva that while using web 2.0 we all come together as equals and act collectively. 

Personally, I think it's important to realise that web 2.0 is crated to bring people all around the globe closer to together and give them the opportuniny the share their thoughts and ideas with everone around the world. It' thanks to sites like Facebook that we can easily stay in touch with people living on the different continent. In my opinion, Facebook is a perfect exmple of a very successful web 2.0 tool. It' s used all around the world, it links people together and is accessible to almost everyone. Networks like that are definitely the future and it will be iteresting to see in what way they will develope.