Task 1b: Professional communication technologies

So I haven't quite mastered a short and concise blog post but here goes!..

The term Web 2.0 is a new one for me and at first (as with everything new) it seemed like quite an alien and daunting term. Web 2.0 is a platform in technology which gives us the opportunity to learn, share and contribute in discussion. Web 1.0, is a one way form of communication (the creator gives you information which you just consume). TV, newspapers and magazines are all examples of content being shared through Web 1.0. Web 2.0 introduces the next step; where us as the reader/consumer is given the opportunity to contribute and in turn also become a creator. Social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.) blogs and Wikis are all example forms of Web 2.0.

Tim O’Reilly’s Meme Map (as seen below) really helped me in understanding the uses and conditions of Web 2.0. The meme encapsulates all important areas of our Web 2.0 study from Reader 1.

http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html (Viewed 06/03/2018) 

Here I have summarized my understanding of the 3 competencies that are relevant to professional practice through the use of Web 2.0; 

1. Architectures of participation

Oxford dictionary writes that participation is “The act of taking part in something”  (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/participation 08/03/18). In terms of Web 2.0 we see participation with two uses - not only as taking part but also by contributing and creating. In order to participate, the opportunities to get involved must be easily accessible,  which is what Web 2.0 can give us due to it’s forever evolving form. 

I see it as a cycle -

Web 2.0 creates opportunities 

↗                                       ↘

The platform grows, Web 2.0 learns              We see, participate, contribute

 ↖                        ↙

Others see, participate, contribute

Web 2.0 has bought us forward into a time of mass communication, there is an unlimited amount of people who can participate and with the more users, the more it improves. Ullrich et al. (2008) states “Each user is therefore immediately a member of a community with a low barrier to participate.”  (P.707) 

2. Remixable data and transformations

This is about the materials and data which we use and reuse in Web 2.0 such as photographs, music, text and ideas etc. There is a noticeable blurring to the authenticity when it comes to sharing or contributing to Web 2.0. This allows us to be able to share what isn't necessarily 'our own' but we can build on it in order to create (or add) something which is 'our own'. There isn't an obvious distinction between the creator and the audience.

3. Harnessing collective intelligence

Not only does Web 2.0 allow us to share and build relationships within our individual professional networks, it also allows us to expand further than this. The online community comes together as strangers and equals in order to share and communicate. Web 2.0 has 3 key functions which allow us to do this;

• It is a social system (allowing people to interact and share)
• It has an intelligent search engine (will link you to people/events of similar interests)
• User intelligence (we actively help improve the system just by using it)

My professional use of Web 2.0:

As a dancer, one of my main uses of Web 2.0 is through dance forums where I can access and share information about upcoming auditions, productions and current news updates from the industry. I use sites such as;

https://www.danceeurope.net

au-di-tions.com

balletcompanies.com

www.pointemagazine.com

dancers.mandy.com

www.networkdance,com

On sites such as Network Dance and Mandy Dancers, you have the opportunity to have your own profile. This is an easy way to promote yourself within the industry and to keep everyone updated on your activities and share information. I also regularly receive emails detailing auditions and news which the site has deemed significant to me personally. My Network Dance profile is; www.networkdance.com/Syanne-Day/#board

I am also a big user of social media and can be found on a few platforms this way. I have a Facebook, Instagram and Twitter account. I mainly keep my Facebook as a personal account and try to only use this to stay connected with friends and family (who like many others in my industry are scattered around the world!) My Instagram account is what I would consider my more 'professional' account. I use this to promote myself as a dancer by sharing information on productions I am taking part in and rehearsal process updates. Reflecting on this, I could be using this a lot more and could be sharing a lot more than I do. 

To touch on the ethical side of this reader, I want to share a revelation which I recently had regarding my Twitter account. I have to confess that up until recently I thought I had deleted my Twitter account which I had made and used many years ago. Turns out I hadn't actually deleted the account, and all my young and naive tweets are still all online for everyone to see. Now I didn't write anything too outrageous or ethically wrong by any standards, but I am not keen on the idea of current/future employers seeing my tweets from way back before I even considered life beyond school days! Maybe I think too much about what I post, but I bet there are many people who probably do post without thinking. Are they considering how this may reflect on them professionally? Does this affect us professionally when applying for jobs? As these platforms grow and become more and more apart of our daily life, should we all be taking more care in what we contribute to the online society? I only pose these questions as I know how social media and indeed the use of Web 2.0 is now a huge part of society and is growing everyday.

I read on Izzy Clough's blog from this task about how social media can have negative knock on effects on society in terms of mental health and how social media can cloud our judgment of real life. There are not all positive effects and although it is exciting to see this platform grow, I feel there should be now more education put in place at schools to educate the uses and knock on effects if social media is not used with the right kind of care. Should social media and what we post online be a bigger part of our education when we are younger? Could this help us avoid regret when we get to that professional stage? I know not everyone would listen but surely it will at least allow some of us the opportunity to make more rounded decisions about what we choose to post and contribute to?

Bibliography
-O'Reilly, T. (2006) What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the generation of software, viewed 6th March 2018
-Ullrich, C., Borau, K., Luo, H., Tan, X., Shen, L. & Shen, R. (2008) 'Why Web 2.0 is good for learning and for research: principles and prototypes', ACM, pp. 705-714
-http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html
-https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/participation viewed 8th March 2018