2. ANALYZING WEB 2.0 PRINCIPLES
FROM A LEARNING PERSPECTIVE
The term Web 2.0" runs danger of becoming a buzzword
as empty as e-learning": some years ago, every learning
software that used the Internet in some way was coined as
e-learning software", regardless of whether it was innovative
or helpful for learning. Today, Web 2.0 faces the same fate:
every Web-site with a fancy interface is sold as Web 2.0.
However, careful analysis shows that Web 2.0 can be used
to describe a new set of software applications that distinguish
itself from previous applications by a number of principles.
While in the beginning of the Internet, software was
modeled after the practices prevalent at that time, slowly a
new kind of applications emerged. The dening principles
of these applications were rst captured by O'Reilly [30].
Anderson [6] used a slightly dierent categorization of what
he calls the ig ideas" of Web 2.0 and gives examples of
current usages of Web 2.0 services for learning and digital
libraries.
None of the principles is a new technology or development
for itself. As the inventor of the Web, Tim Berners-Lee,
points out, Web 2.0 works on the same standards as Web
1.0 [6], and his original vision of the Web was the one of a
ead-write-Web", where everyone could add and edit Web
pages [9]. However, taken together the ig ideas of Web
2.0" have reached a critical mass that transforms the way
of publishing and information exchange so distinctively that
the term Web 2.0" is warranted.
In the following, we will analyze Web 2.0 principles (based
on [30, 6]) and analyze each principle with respect to the implication
on technology-enhanced learning. This will allow
us to make general statements about the implications of Web
2.0 on pedagogy based on the inherent technical features of
Web 2.0.