Social Software and more…

Since I already mentioned the new Swiss blog on eLearning and Knowledge Management this morning, I would like to enlargen their list of web2.0 (or social software) a little bit. Here’s a summary of their articles and documents (unfortunately all in German):

• Trend geht von Datenbanken zu Social Networking (zdnet-Newsletter vom 26.10.)
• "Trendreport Wissensmanagement 2006-2010" des Bitkom which deals with the tremendous effects of web2.0-technologies on company ICT-infrastructure. The trend will now go in the direction of information retrieval and aktive sharing of knowledge.
• Handelsblatt (German newspaper) article from June 11, 2005
• Mario Sixtus’s article in the German computer magazine c’t (Nr. 05/06)
• another article by Mario Sixtus on the "humanization of the internet" which was published in the German weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" in August 2005 and can currently be found in the Zeit-archive
• another rather critical article by Kristina Kaul for the Deutsche Welle which can be found under Web 2.0: Phantom oder Phänomen
• And another article appeared in the German Süddeutsche Zeitung (author: Alex Rühle) and the title is Ritter der Schwafelrunde (untranslatable, let’s try nevertheless: the knights of the talking table )

There were even more articles in German and international newspapers on the phenomena of web2.0 and social software so that I would like to add some of my sources here:

• The Online-Business Magazine Perspektive Blau had a couple of articles on web2.0 in September and October 2006 focusing on the question whether it is a new hype and on the implications web2.0 might have for business.
• The magazine "Wissensmanagement" (Knowledge Management) already asked in 2004 whether wiki and weblogs constitute a new media revolution.
• The global learning newsletter of October 2006 asked "What is web2.0?"
• In the Financial Times Deutschland, Mathias Mertens commented on web2.0 with "Aus Alt mach Neu"
• And now finally for the (only) English-speaking readers: Educause has been dealing with web2.0 and its implications for education for quite a while. One example is Bryan Alexander’s article "Web 2.0 - A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning" (link to the pdf-file)

This last question is in my opinion the most important for those of us who are in education. It doesn’t matter whether web2.0 is just another buzzword or not, it doesn’t matter if it leads to another dotcom-bubble for business, the crucial question is whether it will improve learning. So, let’s see if we can collect pilot projects. I would be happy to hear from anybody who has been using social software or any other web2.0-applications in classes - it doesn’t matter on which level.

– English version below –

Über Andreas Auwärters Blog Podcasting for Learning habe ich von einem neuen Schweizer Blog zum Thema eLearning und Wissensmanagement erfahren, der im Rahmen des gleichnamigen Master-Studiengangs von der NDK eLearning 2006/2007 (diese scheint sich mit der Integration von Blogs und Wikis in den Unterricht zu beschäftigen - sehr spannend) als Gemeinschaftsblog entsteht. Deswegen bloggen dort auch eine ganze Reihe von Teilnehmenden des Studiengangs und kann mich diesem Kommentar von Andreas Auwärter

"Ich wünsche zuerst einmal den Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer an dieser Community viel Spaß an der Arbeit, auch wenn sie mir als fast abgeschlossen erscheint. Was der Blogforschenden und Podcastforschenden und Web2.0 forschenden Blogsphäre, Podcastsphäre dienlich wäre, wäre, wenn Ihr uns erhalten bliebet. Vielleicht innerhalb dieses Blogs, damit es weiterleben würde, oder vielleicht auf einem Eigenen … Wie sind hier die Pläne? Schreibt doch einmal, wie Ihr die Gestaltung des Seminares vorgenommen habt etc."

Auch ich wäre sehr neugierig darauf, wie der Blog im Rahmen dieses Studiengangs eingebunden ist und welche Erfahrungen die Teilnehmenden damit machen - erste Reflexionsansätze sind dort schon zu finden, zum Beispiel in diesem Blogpost, und es bleibt zu hoffen, dass wir die Entwicklung weiterhin live mitverfolgen können.

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Oops, I just realized that I wrote this post in German - I guess this can happen when you’re reading in other German blogs. Anyway, here’s a short English version:

Via Andreas Auwärter’s Blog Podcasting for Learning I heard about another Swiss Community Blog which deals with eLearning and Knowledge Management and is developed during a study programme on the same topic. It seems that the blogging takes place during a course on how to use blogs and wikis in the classroom and along with Andreas Auwärter, I would hope that this group of people continues blogging after their course has ended. By the way, the blog is written in German.