Web 2.0 Learning Opportunity

Day 1 : Introduction to the participatory World Wide Web (Web 2.0)

The Web 2.0 Learning Opportunity, held in Eldoret from 29th November to 3rd December at [www.mu.ac.ke|Moi University] (School of Information Sciences) and sponsored by CTA

The main facilitator was Mr. Nicholas Kimolo from [www.futuristic.co.ke|Futuristic Limited.] The training exposed participants to a range of tools.

This wiki entry shares the main concepts shared during the 5-day training.

Learning Outomes

By the end of this introductory session, the participants were able to : 

• Show an understanding of the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0
  
• Appreciate hurdles preventing the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in Kenya
  
• 
  

Main Concepts

Web 2.0 is a participartory web. Attention shifts from the Webmaster to me and you as content creators.

Key points

The second generation web is no longer a Coca Cola billboard. In the past, internet users were passive, and the internet was for posting passive 'notices'. Web 2.0 is ‘participatory’. There is the human element. The human touch. The second generation Web places the power of connectivity to humanity. There are a few hurdles to be overcome yet.

Why are we not there yet?

• Infrastructure hurdles.
  

• Skills hurdles (this is partly what we are here to overcome)
  

• Legal hurdles - Policy hurdles
  

Search Magic

Learning Outcomes

• The participants were able to:
  
• Understand the differences between a directory and search engines
  
• Use multiple search strategies to conduct advanced searches on search engines
  
• Perform searches in multiple-languages.
  

Main Concepts

Key points

Skills to filter so as to get relevant results in a relatively short time: Including and Excluding : use the - sign to exclude a term from the search. Use the + to force a term to be included in the search. eg. cat -fish to give you results that do not include the term catfish. virus -computer to get medical viruses rather than computer viruses. Domain Searches : Use site:.domain to restrict your search. eg ecotourism site:.ke ; maasai site:.gov Phrase Searches : Use phrase searches to search exact word order e.g. "jua kali" "information explosion" Synonym search place the tilde (~) before a term to get synonymous terms e.g. ~car to include results for vehicle. Filetype search To limit the file type displayed. Use filetype:[ext] to limit results. eg. to get only powerpoint presentations on web 2.0 use web 2.0 filetype:ppt • Multi-lingual searches: Searching multiple languages and use of the Google translation tools. Feedback: I thought I knew how to search -- well til today This has been a real eye opener

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Day 2: Information Self Service, Online Documents and Wikis

Information Self Service

With the pace at which information is procuded, it is impossible to manually keep track of the latest development on one's field of interest.  RSS feeds make it easier for one to keeep at par, and in an efficient way.  The user does not look for information, the information looks for the user.  yeeeah!

Learning Outcomes

Participants were able to :

• Identify RSS feeds (logo, look etc)
  
• Create  Google Alerts
• Subscribe to and read feeds from Google Reader

Key Points

Key points

whenever you see the the RSS icon, it says subscribe to me please.

Online Documents

Google Documents provide an efficient and effective way for groups to author and collaborate remotely. 

Key Points

here here

Creating Wikis

Learning Outcomes

blha blah blah

Key Points

here here

Nick Showed us a beautiful video on RSS feeds.

Day 3: Online Mapping, VOIP, Blogging

We learned how to create custom maps from Google Earth.  We also learned how to communicate voice over internet using a Web 2.0 application - Skype.  

Finally we created our own blogs using Blogger.

VOIP

add content here...

Online Publishing (Blog)

add content here

Social Networking

Social networking facilitates connection of people with a common interest. This is majorly through sharing information on a certain topic. Users create groups and pages and invite those interested to share and add their views.

Examples of social networks include:

• Facebook
• MYspace
• Linkedin - This is a professional networking site as opposed to facebook which is a social networking site

Most participants had interacted with these social networking sites but had not exploited them fully. Participants learnt how to join various groups on these sites while at the same time being careful with privacy issues. For example, most participants did not know that their was a market place in facebook!

Click to go to facebook