What is the World of Web 2.0 and User Contributed Material?

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User Contributed Material: Blogs, wikis, podcasts, mashups, vidcasts, virtual worlds, and social networking sites are drawing millions of visits every day.

All-in-One Web 2.0 Lists

Go2Web20.net

Top Ten Free Web 2.0 Sites 

Wikis:  Software that allows users to create, edit, and link web pages easily. 

Do you know what a Wiki is?

Host services:

• PBWiki
• Wikispaces

Examples of educational wikis:

• Wikipedia
• Curriculum Wiki
• Curriki

Blogs:  Website(s) where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.

Host Services:

• Wordpress
• Blogger
• Chinswing
• Crowd About
• Classroom Blogmeister
• Edublogs

Examples of educational blogs:

• 2Cents Worth
• Weblogg-ed

Social Networks

• Teacher Lingo
• Club Penguin
• Classroom 2.0
• Ning
• Ning in Education

RSS Feeds

• Google Reader     Google login required.
• Bloglines
• ePortfolios

Collaborative Documents 

• Google Docs    See Google for Educators page for details.
• Zoho
• Edit Grid
• .DocStock
• Scribd
• Mashups  - (computing slang) A derivative work consisting of two pieces of (generally digital) mediaconjoined together in some interesting way, such as a video clip with a different soundtrack applied for humorous effect, or a digital map overlaid with user-supplied data.

Social Bookmarking

• del.icio.us
• Educational Math Activities saved by 172 people
• Could this be a teacher?
• Cfox2's 83 math bookmarks

Online Collaborative Environments 

• WiZIQ
• Palbee
• Yugma

Quote from The Wisdom of the Mob, Dr. Arnie Abrams, Southern Oregon University:

"19th century scientist Francis Galton observed that a collection of indivduals, acting independently, managed to achieve what even experts could not: averaged together, their answers were right, thought no individual managed to get as close as the average did. In this case, the exercise was estimating the weight of a slaughtered ox."