Jess’ E-Learning Blog

While reading ‘Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation and Teaching and Learning?’ (Alexander, 2006), I realised one really prominent aspect of social software which has never really occurred to me. When I was first introduced to concepts such as aggregators, social bookmarking, educational blogs and wikis, I was overwhelmed by the multitude and sharing of information, the interaction between people and the presence of identity broadcasting. But I completely overlooked one thing: How time plays a part in social software.

 One thing this reading has pointed out to me is that social software is different from other internet applications not only because it is highly user-generated, interactive and largely informal, but also because it is created over time and as such, the passage of time is evident in the end products of social software (not that there is technically any end product, as it is continually being built, but you know what I mean ^_^). For instance, blogging is highly time oriented in that each post is dated and ordered according to when it was made. Wiki’s evolve over time and often include a function whereby users can access the history of changes made to the wiki.

These sections of the Web break away from the page metaphor. Rather than following the notion of the Web as book, they are predicated on microcontent. Blogs are about posts, not pages. Wikis are streams of conversation, revision, amendment, and truncation. Podcasts are shuttled between Web sites, RSS feeds, and diverse players. These content blocks can be saved, summarized, addressed, copied, quoted, and built into new projects.

http://connect.educause.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Review/Web20ANewWaveofInnovation/40615