Chapter 6: Social Web

As I read this chapter, I was reminded of the first time I logged on to AOL and went to a chat room. I was about 14-years-old and had never before used instant messenger. The feeling it gave me was awesome; I felt so connected to the rest of the world, and felt as if I could make friends in a safe, controlled way without having to worry about anyone judging me on my looks, my social status, or my ability to mingle with others my age. I loved the way I could just reinvent myself if I wanted. I know that many other millions of people have felt that same way, and continue to use the Internet to connect themselves to like-minded people across the globe. It is utterly amazing that we can communicate with another student in China that may be in a totally different situation, but may have endless amounts of information and experience to share with us.

The chapter talks about social bookmarking as a way for educators to simplify their lives, and I whole-heartedly agree with the idea. With endless possibilities in our lives at all times, any way to simplify is welcome in my book. Within a single school, I can see where social bookmarking would be an awesome way to share links with colleagues for educational resources, community activities, extra-curricular activities and even planning/problem solving ideas. This would help teachers, in addition to websites, blogs, podcasts, etc., get on the same page and share their individual knowledge and experiences with other teachers. Wow.

The quote that seems to set the stage for the entire idea comes at the end of the chapter, as usual: “But regardless of how you do it, the idea that we can now use social networks to tap into the work of others to support our own learning is an important concept to understand. It’s another example of how collective contributions created by the Read/Write Web are changing the way we work and learn” (100).