London Regional ICT champion

Part of the ICT Champion’s role is to educate the voluntary sector and funders about new technology. With that in mind, readers of this blog will be wondering just what this web 2.0 stuff is that myself and other writers keep referring to.

According to Wikipedia, which is itself a web 2.0 tool:

Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004, refers to a supposed second generation of Internet-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. O’Reilly Media, in collaboration with MediaLive International, used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences and since 2004 it has become a popular (though ill-defined and often criticized) buzzword amongst certain technical and marketing communities.

Examples of web 2.0 applications include:

• Flickr – online photo gallery
• Skype – internet phonecalls
• Wikipedia – online encyclopedia
• Youtube – online video service
• RSS – system for subscribing to favourite web sites
• Tagging – using your own labels to ‘tag’ or categorise web pages, images, music, etc
• Blogging – online journal or diary
• Myspace – online community space for people to share similar interests, ie music
• Basecamp – group project collaboration
• Google documents and spreadsheet
• Google calendar

The idea with web 2.0 is very simple – instead of installing bits of software onto your computer – applications now run on the web.

All these tools have several things in common:

• you can potentially access these tools from almost anywhere in the world. And all you need is a computer, an Internet connection and email account;
• they’re all either, free, low cost, easy to use and sustainable;
• they’re about sharing knowledge, forming like-minded communities and collaborating on projects

Web 2.0 isn’t necessarily making the world smalller, just a better connected.

Looking at the list of web 2.0 tools (it’s a small sample), it does throw up all sorts of questions about the people and technical barriers between the sector and widespread adoption of online tools – which I’ll return to in a future post.
Right now, as an ICT Champion and evangelist of new technology I’m recommending that you check these out and think about how they might be applied to helping your organisation communicate with its clients and funders.

To get you started, check out the NSPCC’s use of videos posted to Youtube and think how many people beyond their normal audience are now aware of the NSPCC’s message.