4.5 Technology assisted school counselor and principal collaboration  (Page 6/16)

Tim O'Reilly, the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world, wrote:

"Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an "architecture of participation," and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences." (O’Reilly, 2007).

Following are several online services that specialize in helping content providers and readers share their expertise and awareness.

Collaborative bookmarks

Search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing have been able to index billions of web pages across the globe. However, they have not indexed all known pages. And, there exists so many good resources today that even some valuable resources may not make their way to the top of a search engine’s results list. Plus, search engines do not typically specialize in providing results that best reflects one profession such as counseling or education. Human review and recommendation of resources is still quite valuable. Many services exist that allow the members of a profession (or any community) to share, review, and recommend (or not) a list of web sites or “bookmarks”. Among many, examples of such services include:

• Delicious is a social bookmarking service that allows users to tag, save, manage and share web pages from a centralized source. Users can also build stacks -- a collection of links built around a common theme. http://delicious.com/
• Digg is a website where people can collectively determine the value of content and share with other consumers. Once something is submitted, other people see it and “Digg” what they like best. If your submission is popular and receives enough “Diggs”, it is promoted to the front page of the website. http://digg.com/
• Diigo is two services in one -- it is a research and collaborative research tool on the one hand, and a knowledge-sharing community and social content site on the other. http://diigo.com/
• Google Bookmarks is an online service that lets you save your favorite sites and attach labels and annotations. Unlike the bookmark feature from your browser, bookmarks are stored securely online, so they are accessible even if you're using other computers. http://www.google.com/bookmarks
• StumbleUpon uses ratings to form collaborative opinions on website quality. When you “stumble,” you will only see pages that friends and like-minded stumblers have recommended. http://www.stumbleupon.com/

Collaborative videos

I think most people forget that, at one time not very long ago, posting a video (or even a photo) online was a complicated and time consuming procedure. Definitely not today. One can capture video through their cameras, video phones, or webcams and almost instantly begin uploading to one of many video hosting sites. In addition, these online video warehouses have become social networks that provide the tools for people to connect while reviewing, commenting, or sharing videos. Videos can now also easily be embedded on any web page so that the videos, in practice, are syndicated throughout the web. Although many video sharing sites exist, the most popular include: