Since the introduction of technology in the society, there have been many changes witnessed throughout; some which has been negative while others positive. The introduction of the use of the internet brought a new face on how things are done in the society. However, technology is very dynamic and a lot of improvements are made on a daily basis making the existing to be obsolete or rendered useless. With Web 2. 0 coming to play, it completely changed the ways in which the society has been carrying out its functions.
For instance, it brought a different face in the Web as it could allow web users to edit information (such as on the wikis and blogs) and thus make it a social connector. This has played a very significant role in the education, social life, and economic sector. The use of Web 2. 0 technology has been considered as a revolution in the education sector. At many times, education system has not been non participatory, but with the use of Web 2. 0 technology, higher education institutions have taken this as a step that would help in making the students participate in the education, rather than remain passive.
There has been little research work conducted on the impact Web 2. 0 has on the education. However, due to the impact the system has on the learning of the students, teachers are using it, despite not being a design for e-learning (Simoes & Gouveia, 2008). E-learning has not mostly achieved its objective of empowerment, as it has in most cases been a system that entails handouts and quizzes with multiple choices. Hence it has not inspired the students at all. This trend has however been changed by the introduction of Web 2. 0 as it is creates an environment that is social and flexible.
When a person publishes information and allows for others to give their comments, it gives learning an expansion and sharing experience. By giving feedback and contributing in the writing of the materials, it helps the learners to come up with new ideas of knowledge instead of going on with pre-existing ideas. In this way, the educators are also given options of assessing the learners, hence bringing about a more education system that engages both the learner and the educator (Simoes & Gouveia, 2008). An open approach in the education system is very important to the students, and this has been fostered by Web 2.
0 services. Learners and educators can easily get the materials they require and share it with others, create their own work, and redistribute it, thus be able gain the required learning needs with focused outcomes. This will increase an empowerment in the education sector. Furthermore, the use of Web 2. 0 services is a very important tool in enabling the users to network. The effect of this is that it creates a relationship between the learners bringing an education approach in the society that is community oriented. In essence, the use of Web 2.
0 services in the education system has managed to bring to the end the bureaucracy that has for a long time been in the education sector. Many people especially the youth have been shunning away the teaching career because of its culture. Teaching has been considered an activity undertaken behind the closed doors with the teachers doing a lot of talking and students only listening. This culture has been in a way broken by the collaborative learning method taken by the students and educators using different forms of Web 2. 0 technology (Simoes & Gouveia, 2008). Web 2.
0 services enables students to publish their work easily, and when students knows that their work will be published and be accessible over the internet, it gives them the morale and interest in researching and writing. The students become even more interested when they get comments on the work they have done. With the connectivity mode of learning exhibited by Web 2. 0 technology, the education system has focused on the main goals of the society. Although Web 2. 0 has played a very significant role in improving the education sector, there are many implications that have been associated with the system.
These implications need a lot of awareness and attention. For instance, the intellectual property rights, privacy, security, etc. Through Web 2. 0 services, users are free to participate, give their feelings and their expressions. This is only advantageous to those who can easily access the technology services. Because of this, the education sector has experienced the digital divide between those who have and those who don’t (Laberge, & Scialfa, 2005). Since the most important part of Web 2. 0 is the participatory aspect, with some people who are not able to participate, it makes the system loose its effectiveness.
In using for instance wikis in the academic work, such issues as accuracy and credibility are raised. More so, privacy and security are other critical issues that affect social networking in the education sector. Apart from the education sector, Web 2. 0 has been applied in various other sectors of the economy, for instance, in different business organizations. In the work place, the service is used both in the formal and informal sector. The informal include Facebooks, while the formal may include FixMy Street –which is a third party site used in local governmental offices to improve the services.
The major problem with the social Web 2. 0 related services is that many of the employees in the organizations are wasting a lot of time on this rather than being concerned by the security and image of the organization. It might be very difficult for the management to monitor what the employees are doing while using the technology (Katz, & Safranski, 2003). On the other hand, managers of different organizations have been concerned with the manner in which people use the web 2. 0 services to discuss their organizations.
However, different organizations have used Web 2. 0 technology in increasing efficiency. This is mostly by creating a platform where the public and the entire employees in the organization are able to help one another easily concerning the products or services provided by the organization, and where to make improvements if need be (Katz, & Safranski, 2003). The most challenging implication Web 2. 0 has on the organization is the issue to do with security. It is very easy for the information to be leaked to unintended party.
This is because as it stands out now, many organizations are using Web 2. 0 techniques knowingly or unknowingly. This thus calls for the organization to look out for the policies that would ensure such threats are avoided in the organization. On the other hand, many organizational managers have felt that the benefits of using Web 2. 0 technologies generally outweigh the dangers posed by the same. There are however many other solutions that different organizations are coming up with to see that they have managed to put in control the dangers caused by Web 2.0 technologies.
Reference:
Katz J. A & Safranski S (2003): Standardization in the Midst of Innovation: Structural Implications of the Internet for SMEs, Futures Journal, Vol. 35, Laberge, J. C & Scialfa C. T (2005): Predictors of Web Navigation Performance in a Life Span Sample of Adults, Journal of Human Factors, Vol. 47, Simoes L & Gouveia L . B (2008): Knowledge technologies for social transformation, Proceedings of the 4th International Barcelona Conference on Higher Education Vol. 2, http://web. guni2005. upc. es/media/0000000500/0000000523. pdf.