Web-based Applications - Activities

Web-based Applications/Social Networking

Definition:

Web-based applications allow groups to virtually share and collaborate on documents and other media no matter what platform or operating system is used. These tools are usually free, and require collaborators to establish an account. Such Web-based applications are an essential component to the social Web.

Rationale:

Richard McManus & Joshua Porter
Enter Web 2.0, a vision of the Web in which information is broken up into “microcontent” units that can be distributed over dozens of domains. The Web of documents has morphed into a Web of data. We are no longer just looking to the same old sources for information. Now we’re looking to a new set of tools to aggregate and remix microcontent in new and useful ways.

Stephen Downs
In a nutshell, what was happening was that the Web was shifting from being a medium, in which information was transmitted and consumed, into being a platform, in which content was created, shared, remixed, repurposed, and passed along. And what people were doing with the Web was not merely reading books, listening to the radio or watching TV, but having a conversation, with a vocabulary consisting not just of words but of images, video, multimedia and whatever they could get their hands on. And this became, and looked like, and behaved like, a network.

Tools

Office Applications:

Zoho Office Suite - Similar to Microsoft Office Suite, Zoho offers a word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and database tool. Planner, chat, wiki, and virtual office features, are also available.

Google Docs and Spreadsheets - A word processing and spreadsheet program that keeps documents current and lets the people you choose update files from their own computers.

Writeboard - Write, share, revise and compare documents

Spreadsheets

Editgrid - Features real-time-update and extensive collaboration features.

Diagrams and Drawing

Gliffy - Draw and share diagrams online using Gliffy.

Imagination Cubed - Create and share drawings

Bookmarking

Social bookmarking sites allow users to save links and annotate them. The process of tagging, a folksonomy, is used as a means of categorizing and organizing bookmarked sites. Tagging enables users to find other who share their interests and search for sites others have labeled with the same tag.

del.icio.us - remind users of previously deployed tags, suggests some tags, and notes tags used by others.

ma.gnolia.com - saves a copy of every bookmark you make

Furl - "Furl it and forget it."

TagCloud - A concept map used to display selected tags.

ZoomCloud - Similar to TagCloud

Photo and Movie Sharing

Flickr

PhotoBucket

YouTube

Instructional / Tutorial and Hosting Sites:

Zoho Writer

del.icio.us

Creating a Flickr Account

Uploading photo to Flickr

Using Flickr

Explore Flickr

Flickr - Tutorials on several features

Gliffy

Examples and Scenarios

A student takes a walking tour of a historic district and takes photographs of various architectural elements. These photos are organized into a Photoset and then viewed in a Flickr generated slideshow during an oral report to his class. He later uses them as a reference resource for his coursework.
From Derek Baird

Gliffy diagram of "Why Teachers Blog"

Flickr

Using Flickr as a discussion prompt

Adding hotspots/ notes to a photo

Another Flickr hotspot example

Visual Storytelling with Flickr

Fliction

Spell with Flickr

Using YouTube for interview techniques

Creative Commons - Licensing explanations for Flickr

FD's Flickr Toys

Flickr Bits and Pieces - Even more unbelievable Flickr tools