WEB 2.0 AND RECRUITING

This is the last day of the required posting for the class I’m taking at the University of Alabama. The postings for the last 30 days have been about Web 2.0 and recruiting. This posting once again highlights the definition of Web 2.0 referencing the work of John Thompson in “Don’t Be Afraid to Explore Web 2.0.”

Web 2.0 sites allow anyone to contribute content and to participate with other users in editing and even combining or remixing existing content with other material to repurpose it for additional uses. Thus content on the Internet is no longer static; it is changing and dynamic. A distinguishing Web 2.0 feature is the increasing significance of the individual user, as anybody (even a fifth-grader) can create and upload text, as well as audio and video, to the Internet. Another characteristic is the reliance on user participation, often referred to as the “wisdom of the crowd” and the “architecture of participation.”

Web 2.0 has an inherent trust in people and what they can contribute when working together toward a common goal for the greater good. If Web 1.0 (even though we did not know it was “1.0” at the time) was a read-only medium, today’s Web 2.0 is read/write. The Internet’s first era of mass use required users with programming skills to contribute (upload) material to the Internet. Early Internet users found that material in a manner similar to going to the library to find and take home a book.

In contrast, Web 2.0 users still go to the library (i.e., the Internet), but instead of figuratively just taking home a book to read, they now enjoy other possible uses, including contributing comments, changing the contents, and having others simultaneously read the material in real time. Several thousand Web 2.0 applications have become available in the last few years. These applications are generally free to individuals (Thompson, 2008).

REFERENCE:
Thompson, J. (2008, June). Don't Be Afraid to Explore Web 2.0. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(10), 711-778. Retrieved August 31, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

Marty Brack
E-mail: mdbrack@crimson.ua.edu
Cell: 205-837-4098