WEB 2.0 and Emerging Technologies

Web 2.0- Web 2.0 applications are designed allow information sharing. These applications give users the opportunity to interact with each other in social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. They are designed to increase interaction, collaboration and personal productivity.

Drop Box- This application is an organizational systerm. It allows all your documents to be stored in one central place, which can be accessed from any computer you use. It creates a folder on your desktop which you can drag and drop documents into. The program then copies those documents to the same file on all you other computers. The program will also store all your files on the internet, so that if your computer should crash, you will automatically have a backup copy.

Drop Box has the potential to assist me with increasing my personal productivity by saving me time in searching for documents. I have my personal computer, a school laptop, and a work laptop all with different documents saved on them. I try to remember to copy everything to my flash drive, but I often forget. It's frustrating to need a document saved at home when I am at work and vice versa. This program could also be very beneficial to students for the same reason. They will have no more excuses for late documents when they can access their assignments from the internet!




Tokbox- is a video conferencing application that is similar to skype, but has many more features and options. This program is a great tool for getting people together for a face to face meeting even when you are miles apart. I was impressed that this program allows you to share media clips while conferencing. You could share a You Tube or Flickr clip during a meeting. It will also allow you to add your contacts you already have stored in other messaging programs such as AIM.

I think this application would be great for high school students who need to collaborate on a project but aren't able to physically get together to meet. It could also be used for elementary students to give them an opportunity to meet and chat with pen pals around the world. I could forsee using Tokbox for a video conference or webinar to allow more personal interaction with the instructor or colleagues.