Discussion #4 – Web 2.0 Tools – Providing Instant Access to Information
In reviewing the discussions and assignments from the past few weeks, what stuck out to me was how much we have come to rely upon instant access to communication. I recently had a conversation with someone regarding our constant need to know “what’s new” or what is going on. You notice this everywhere–since I travel a lot, I often take a moment to look at people when the plane has landed. As soon as we are instructed that we are able to use our electronic devices, that the majority of people are signing onto their Facebook account to see what their friends/families latest updates on what’s going on in their lives—why is this? Is it because we have become so dependent on technology and our need to constantly be “in the know?”
By now, you have probably figured that my tool of choice is Twitter. Brigitte did an excellent job of summarizing her thoughts on Twitter.
“Twitter is efficient for keeping up with anything, faster than RSS feeds. Instead of waiting for a whole page to load, which is getting faster, you have a few words to tell you what you need to know. RSS leads you to the page with the information whereas Twitter will give you the mini-info and if you want, you can get more information latter. Our culture is going in this direction. In dealing with how I receive information, my brain is forced to think faster. I’m not saying I’m smarter (not at all) it’s just moving faster. It’s relative to each person. ”
I strongly agree with Brigitte’s perspective. I use Twitter for the exact reasons that she outlined in her post. I rely on Twitter as my news source. Through ‘following’ a variety of different sources, I am able to gauge on what topics I have an interest in learning more about just by reading a snippet of information. The only drawback I really have with Twitter is that the information is coming at such a rapid pace, it is very easy to get lost or miss a tweet on something of importance/interest, which I can see could pose an issue for using this technology in the classroom.
At the end of the day, what it all boils down to is that we want quick, easy and instant access to the most up to date information. Web 2.0 tools gives us the resources to do just that.
