Techie
Talk
By Joey Mechelle Stenner, Editor and Publications Manager
What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media
in 2003, refers to a perceived second generation of Web-based communities
such as social networking and video/photo hosting sites (Myspace,
Facebook, Xanga, Flickr, Youtube), wikis
and folksonomies that facilitate collaboration and
sharing between users. Though the term suggests a new version of the
Web, it does not refer to an update to the World Wide Web, but to
changes in the ways systems developers have used the Web platform.
Sweet Adelines International has been utilizing Web 2.0
techniques for a while now on its official Web site — with Webcasts,
video and audio, and bulletin boards. Sweet Adelines International
has an official Myspace profile at www.myspace.com/sweetadelines,
a presence on Wikipedia.com and will begin working
with tag clouds and other various Web-based communities. Many choruses,
quartets and members are also joining the Web 2.0
generation by becoming Myspace users and posting
videos on sites such as Youtube.com. It’s free
to use and an extraordinary way to market your organization.
What are Wikis?
Web sites that allow its visitors to add, delete and edit content.
An effective tool for mass collaborative authoring. Encyclopedia sites
like Wikipedia.com are a good example. But beware,
information that can be written and edited by the general public is
often criticized for its reliability. Web sites such as Wikipedia.com
rely on its users to catch false and malicious content and correct
it. Wikis in general make a basic assumption of the
goodness and honesty of the people using the sites. Wikis
usually utilize hyperlinks, which are references or citations embedded
in a document. For instance, if every bolded word in this article
were hyperlinked on a Web site, clicking it would take you to another
page to read the definition or explanation of that word.
What is Folksonomy?
A folksonomy is a user generated classification used
to categorize and retrieve Web content such as Web pages, photos and
web links, using open-ended labels called tags. Typically, folksonomies
are internet-based, but their use may occur in other contexts. The
folksonomic tagging is intended to make a body of
information increasingly easy to search, discover, and navigate over
time. A well-developed folksonomy is ideally accessible
as a shared vocabulary that is both originated by, and familiar to,
its primary users. One widely cited example of a Web site using folksonomic
tagging is http://del.icio.us. This is also known as social bookmarking.
Are You Playing Tag Yet?
Internet tags are often shown in “tag clouds”
where the size of the font reflects the popularity of the tag in the
corpus of documents. If you were to tag the posts in a blog about
cooking, your tag cloud would reflect the overall composition of your
content. For example, if you only have a few items tagged with “chicken”
and many “recipes,” the font size for “recipes”
will be much larger than the one used for “chicken.” If
you spend a little time looking at tag clouds, you will note that
many popular tags are also popular keywords.
To view a tag cloud (a list of tags where size reflects popularity),
visit this popular Web site: http://del.icio.us/tag/
What Exactly is MySpace? And How Does It Benefit Me?
MySpace is a place where you can create a profile page you can use
to meet new friends, connect with old friends and keep in touch with
current friends. MySpace has a lot to offer your chorus and quartet
as well.
MySpace utilizes a wide array of multimedia from music to videos to
picture hosting. All of which are free for you to use and share.
You can also blog (an online journal) to promote your chorus or quartet’s
activities and events. A MySpace user also has access to e-mail, instant
messaging, forums, groups and personalized bulletins to keep in touch
with friends and market your organization.
MySpace users can protect themselves by making a profile private,
allowing only friends to view it. Additional privacy tools are convenient
to use on MySpace — keeping unwanted and unsolicited friend
requests at bay.
Users can make comments on other users’ profiles, blogs, pictures
and videos — thus making the site somewhat interactive. Comments
can be setup to be approved by the owner of the account.
Celebrities, artists, bands, political figures, businesses, non-profit
organizations, schools, etc. are all joining the MySpace phenomenon.
Check it out at www.myspace.com/sweetadelines.
If you have technology questions you would like to have answered here
in The Pitch Pipe, please send them to Ask a Techie,
9110 South Toledo, Tulsa, OK 74137 or saijoey@yahoo.com.
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