Week 10 - Web 3.0

There's alot of websites which actually compare the semantic web with web 3.0 because of their similarites in making the web smarter. However when i was looking at this website it seemed like Web 3.0 was more advanced http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2102863,00.asp. Not only does it try to improve search engines, but it also embraces a

• '3-D Web' - where a user becomes involved in this completely different world.
• A 'Media-Centric Web' - where a user can incorpate other pieces of technology to improve their search results.
• A 'Pervasive Web'- a web that is 'everywhere'. Such of like a mini 'Big Brother'

Im pretty sure that a Neo-Luddite might want to end it all when Web 3.0 comes around.

Week 10 - What is the 'Semantic Web'?

Semantic Web isn't a completelyt new idea but an extension of web 2.0. A concept coined by Tim-Berners Lee who saw how the web can somehow be improved, especially in terms of search engines. Berners-Lee observes that although search engines show much of the Web's content, they have little ability to select the pages that a user really wants or needs. For example,because of the hypertext link, 'anything can link to anything. Therefore there could be a mix match of commercial and academic material. At 'one end theres fice-second TV commerical to poetry' and then 'on the other end we have databases, programs and sensor output'.

However semantic web is trying to change all this. It will change how the current internet is made for humans and not for machines to understand. The semantic web is a vision of information that is understandable by computers, so that they can perform more of the tedious work involved in finding, sharing, and combining information on the web, rather than it involving human interaction




Berners-Lee, T (2001) 'The Semantic Web' http://www-personal.si.umich.edu/~rfrost/courses/SI110/readings/In_Out_and_Beyond/Semantic_Web.pdf

Week 10 - Is there a potential problem being stored up for people if education is tailored to fit into their cultural and personal preferences

Of course there is a problem is there's tailored to fit into someones personal preferences, because how would that ever work? If everyone had their own preferences in what they wanted a course to be like, how much work they wanted, what aspects they found boring and therefore didnt want to learn about it, then there would be no structure to anything.

Some people find maths pointless. Does that mean that people shouldn't learn math unless they wanted to. I have encountered many times, where i've absolutely dreaded a course because either it was too hard i wasn't interested. This doesn't mean that it didnt mean that i just didnt bother, i gave it a go and after i felt like although it may have been hard, it stretched my education. I always thought that learning in German in secondary was pointless as their are many other main languages to learn, however believe it or not i tooka school trip to Austria, and there were many occassions where i was able to talk to the people there, i felt like it was totally worth it.

Week 10 - How might Wengers notions on practice communities relate to Prenskys on Education

There are some aspects of Wenger that can be applied to the work of Prensky. Wenger (1991) described a Community of Practice as 'a set of relations among persons, activity and world, over time and in relation with other tangential and overlapping CoPs'. Wenger studied the ways in which people naturally work and play together. Communities of practice are groups of people who share similar goals and interests. In pursuit of these goals and interests, they have common practices, work with the same 'tools' and express themselves in a 'common language'. Through these aspects they are able to form a community.

This ideology could be related back to Prenskys concepts of the 'digital native' and the digital immigrants'. They both are two different communites. The 'digital natives' have a 'common language' which bonds them all together, they know how to communicate with eachother, they can use technology in the same way and are able to learn. Whereas, the 'digital immigrants' have a completely different language, which puts them into a different community.

Not only this but they both speak strongly on learning. Prensky thinks that the education system needs to be changed, so that these 'digital natives' aren't being taught by an older generation who still believe in structure and endless amounts of books etc. Wenger then would believe that this could be achieved 'learning' an organisation can sustain their communties of practice and 'thus become effective and valuable as an organisation'. Therefore if people learn how to communicate with eachother, change could occur. In 1998 Wenger would describe this through the concept of 'negotiation of meaning'. If a negotiation between a 'digital native' and a 'digital immigrant' occurs, then there could be change.

Week 9 - d) daily frustrations of a fictional neolddite at university now in the UK

The term 'Luddite' came from the Industrial Revolution. A luddite was against the shift from people to machines doing most of the work. From the 1970's the Neo-Luddite was born, these were people who were against the use of technology and sometimes even chose life without the use of technology altogether. Their even against the use of life supprt machines which i find really odd.

Anyways heres Jim. He attends university. Although it was extremely hard for him as applying for uni involved the use of UCAS on the computer. Anyways he's here and wants to get stuck in. His first day of uni is very difficult. He is unable to look at his timetable as it needs to be accessed by logging onto his lincoln account. So he has to walk to the faculty office and they are able to tell him.

He attends his first seminar, and gets along fine with everyone. He disapproves with the use of a powerpoint as an introduction but listen anyways. The tutor then asks the seminar to form a group and swap mobile numbers and email addresses. There's absolutely no way for Jim to put down anything as he's never used email before and doesn't approve of mobile phones. So he has to write down his address so that if someone wants him, they have to visit him, which doesn't humour the rest of his group very well and from the on feels shut out.

He obtains bad marks because he writes he handwrites his essays and when he's asked to do presentations, he stands in front of the class with a flip board and a few pens, trying to express his opinions, whereas is fellow students are able to produce a powerpoint, with video's and images. He is shut out from social events because they are all organised on Facebook or through text. He feels shut out from most aspects of university life and finally drops out.

Week 9 - c) A person known to you who most threatens the notion of native/immigrant in digital culture

Well i could stick to my Uncle who is 45 and is finds computers natural. Supposedely anyone who's born before 1980 aren't capable of using computers and are considered a 'digital immigrant'. However im a 'digital native' and i'm forever asking him to fix my computer, as i've managed to get a virus, or i ask if he can sort out my internet because i've lost my connection. I've been to him for computer advice more than i've been to Mcdonalds. I'm even able to talk to him on IM and he uses the same language as what i do, he doesn't have an 'accent' like Prensky explains. He is more like a digital native than i'll ever be. I'm still learning about computers and i should be fluent in technology according to Prensky.

Week 9 - b) The youngest digital immigrant you know

The youngest digital immigrant is my step dad. I would to say my younger brothers and prove Prensky wrong but my stepdad who is 39 is absolutely useless. Everytime i go home, he asks me to do something, like to even change his mobile phone ringtone or upload some photos onto the computer. Im sure my youngers brothers who are 9 and 10 would be able to tell him now. He is learning though and is now on facebook chatting away. He just isn't as capabable of using a computer as my uncle who is a couple of years older than him. Maybe it comes with the job, my uncle having to learn about computers because of work? Maybe not though cause i know loads of family members who can use computers and their jobs dont need the use of computers. Who knows.