Evolving Internet-Growing Opportunities

Articulate how the Internet is evolving, how web 2.0 provides new opportunities for learning and the future changes we may see.

The internet is evolving very quickly, 'exponentially' some say!
Organizations once headed by elderly powerful businessmen are now created and run by young tech savvy individuals, some who are still in school and some who are 'head hunted' as in the case of Chris Hughes "(24), a cofounder of FaceBook left the company to develop Senator Obama's online and social media marketing architecture."
http://www.slideshare.net/socialmedia8/case-study-the-barack-obama-strategy?src=related_normal&rel=1034338

In http://www.planetizen.com/node/37013, Obama's team 'invited participants' (regular people)to have imput about his campaign, town hall meetings, inaugueration etc., in many diffent ways: photos, voicethreads, blogs. He asked them to use their influence and gave them choices/options to show their support and boy did they ever! His expert team's openess and willingness to share the stage with regular folks via "Crowdsourcing" proved to America that he is open to and wanting their smart ideas and honest impressions. I believe it was the 'invitation' to participate that paved the way to the White House and to many of his successes. He went into their neighbourhoods and saw how he could use their tools to bring them in onto his side. Interaction, even though distant and between strangers , seems closer and more personal when it is immediate and easy to access through the internet! Finally, the internet easily and quickly acknowledges that the populace is available and responsive. It allows for "personalization". (see slideshare URL above)

My class and I watched a Youtube video that showed Obama on his first flight on Airforce One. Even my students saw the kindness and felt the integrity of the President when he addressed ordinary working American citizens as 'sir' on the plane.
The immediacy, the flowing of emotions that these tools allow and even enable, the personal feeling of involvement that one has when using these tools and the increasing skill one earns from practicing allows the learner to grow and know that this rush of excitement is not over because something else is on tomorrow's horizon.
THere is risk, but there is also a rush of emotions and sense of purpose and urgency that individuals/teams can develop the next best tool. I read somewhere that MIT now gives their students the RIGHT to OWN their own ideas and any that get developed is theirs-profit and all!

I feel that the evolvement of the Internet in my life has been slower than most people who use it because I have had to reframe my attitude towards it. Initially, I wanted very little to do with it because what I saw around me seemed impersonal and rude: In restaurants, I saw people preferring to use their blackberries rather than give their dinner companions their time; Friends texting each other even though they were sitting side by side in the same room; Family members too busy because of game playing or surfing. I also didn't understand it or have full access to it.

Today, I have more of an interest in it because I see the benefits of using the various tools to help me get connected to new ideas and strategies, to encourage students to use their creativity, increase and improve their collaborative and communicative skills, and to have access to potential networks/voices who could help us problem-solve as we co-create solutions for our selves and our communities. Mainly, my access to technology has greatly improved ( I have high speed wireless access for my laptop).

I am seeing more reasons, opportunities and gaining more of an understanding of the potential that the Internet holds for people as I muddle through the various sites and programs. Practicing, finding or managing my time on the Net, and learning from others has been very helpful in my change of attitude and efficiency towards the tools. I am also learning how to filter and look for specifics which allows me to not get caught up in reading alot of junk.It feels like a vehicle of sorts that helps me keep up or moving at least.

I believe there is something for everyone who has access to Web 2.0. For everyone else, it is just a matter of time. It allows individuals to have their interests at the forefront of their studies, the freedom and creativity to explore and access unknown territory like old world sailors, world wide imput from a plethora of knowledge banks, connectivity to others who think and work in similiar ways, and critical analysis whether they want it or not.

When I look back to last year, the changes in our way of life have been astronomical. My grandmother once told me that I had seen more changes in my life of 20 years than she had seen in all of her 80 years. Back then I didn't really comprehend what she meant but I see now!

Our village is global and our neigbors are a click away. We are experiencing the same problems- climate change amid other dysfunctions that affect every last one of us, so it is beneficial that we communicate, cooperate and collaborate. The future seems to be now and the tools allow us to coordinate the best solutions, develop the ideas that have potential, and a means to move life in new directions.
THe future changes are numerous and in some moments unimaginable. However, it is how we use the tools that becomes the most pressing question of the day?