Well before forcing myself to sit down and write this blog I must admit to never really thinking about what “web 2.0” is. I vaguely remember talking about it on the first during the campus session. Going back over this later would be a massive help and trying to recall certain people’s views. I know that surprisingly a lot of people were actually not in complete against social media becoming so “social” (for lack of a better expression) there was the view that it has taken away a lot of peoples ability to communicate. A couple of months ago I met up with some friends. I hadn't seen them for a little while and we all had a lot to talk about, but rather than converse we seemed to have periods of intense silence where we would simply look down at our phones and just interact with people we see every day, through either; facebook, twitter, whatsapp or all manner of other devise designed for easy communication. I suppose that is a negative that when it is so easy to keep in touch with people we really do have it at our finger tips and use it in a negative way… but it does have a massive advantage as well. I mean we can now talk to people around the world so easily and making sure you don’t “lose touch” with someone is something that’s actually easy now. Also, for working its easy, people can do so much more on the go now than at one point. For some people I’m sure this is great, but then again it must have it’s negatives. I mean everyone needs a break every now and then and I suppose “sorry, I’m out of the office” will soon no longer be an excuse. Starting out on this blog I got in touch with Natalia who was working on the same thing. She cleared up a lot of my concerns and helped me come to some conclusions.
The way the internet connects people can be a massive benefit. I mean take the riots that occurred all around the world in 2011. These were brought about mainly by social media. The spreading of word through the facebook page “We are all Khaled Said” and peoples personal blogs. Through use of pages such as these it caused worldwide attention and soon got people up in arms over others strife. These riots would overspill and eventually many countries would make stands against barbaric and oppressive regimes. So this can only be seen as a good thing. Without this added element of the internet, this sort of, post and reply, open device for communication, much of this would never have been possible.
My first encounter with the internet being a device for direct communication was in about 2008 when I was looking for music by the artist Long John Baldry. I found the website of one Eli Maas from Holland. He had a fantastic amount of Baldry music listed and I had some stuff he was looking for too. So I simply send him a quick message on the “leave a comment” banner and within a few days he had replied. Now we have managed to assemble a rather massive collection and his website is still going strong. This is a massive benefit to the internet the way you can so easily talk to people about subjects you are interested in. Say, antiques for example. It would be easy have a passion for collecting antiques, but if you are just starting out where would you begin. Now you can easily go online and find probably thousands of pages dedicated to that subject. Through facebook groups you will have other people who share that passion coming together… and no longer are you just dealing with one person with a shop who doesn’t know what you’re taling about over that phone, no, you are talking to people who are in their own way experts. The sharing of information. This is a fantastic use of the internet in my mind. When it can actually open up streams of conversation. This is what “web 2.0” is all about I suppose. Not just looking at information that’s presented to you, but actually being able to take that knowledge and share you own.
I have used Facebook a few too many times now I suppose. I mean it’s just one example of a much vaster array of websites that have really helped the world to communicate. I remember back in the 1990’s when TV shows would run competitions. It would be “send your answers to”, and then maybe they would offer a fax line. As time went on it was e-mail. Now, its text, tweet, or facebook. I won tickets to see Robert Plant live a couple of years ago just through liking his facebook group. I suppose for musicians the most important part of web 2.0 was myspace. That really was a revelation. People were able to post their music and a fair few bands got signed through it I’m lead to believe. This was a major triumph for musicians trying to get a break in that industry. The record companies were often seen as almost impossible to break into and now here was a way to actually gain public recognition. Myspace may have fizzled out a little now but it still was an important part of making communication online so much easier. Now of course youtube is used for music mainly. But not just for music, youtube, has social issued openly discussed and spoken about. Videos are now posted as replies and many different views on subjects are shared. There is something a little unsettling about youtube however, the comments can get rather nasty and often end in whoever posted the video being almost publicly insulted, but I suppose that’s just a necessary evil of being able to post pretty much whatever the hell you want.
Of course the main negative is really the communication of anything a bit more unsavory. So many times we hear that people have been arrested after the discovery of disturbing and sometimes vile information found on their computer. It has been shown that many pedophiles have operated online and actually been able to use facebook to almost ensnare people. This is another one of those situations, where there is no easy answer. To stop this really you would have to find a way of blocking and controlling information and this would probably spill over. Censoring information would indeed destroy certain freedoms such as that of those who reached out and shared their plight during the before mentioned riots.
The cominication of information is fantastic overall. It has some downsides and I suppose the only way we could really stop this would be to take a step back. To have everything reviewed.
Paul
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