Thing 23 : I came, I saw, I conquered. Sort of.

9 weeks ago, I joined my colleagues and participated in a training program called "23 Things", it is designed to help me understand this internet phenomenon, Web 2.0 .


Web 2.0 was a stranger to me, and I was skeptical. "Is Web 2.0 just a fad?" "Will any of the Web 2.0 websites still be around in a few years?"


"23 things" never answers my second question, but it has successfully convinced me that a major social change is indeed happening on the internet and there's no turning back, it also challenges me to envision all the opportunities and possibilities this movement can trigger.


I wish there would be an easier way to explore Web 2.0. Many websites mentioned in the program wouldn't let me set my foot in unless I opened an account and disclosed some personal information first. Each time I did this, I felt like I was giving a piece of myself and my privacy away. Is this the trade-off for embracing new technology? Sometimes I wonder.


The websites that "23 Things" introduces me to are the best of the crop. At first, I was worried I didn't have enough technical knowledge to tackle them. It turns out lack of expertise was not a major issue, answers and solutions were a few clicks away if I was patient enough. Web 2.0 makes it easy for amateurs like me.


On the other hand, preconception can easily become an obstacle. My years of working in Automation may have caused me to judge some social bookmarking sites unfairly, "23 Things" reminds me that in Web 2.0, people matter, users matter, popularity is as important as quality, and I need to look at these sites again from a different viewpoint.


I have been trying to figure out how to apply some of the Web 2.0 concepts to my daily life. First, I have to decide if I should have internet connection at home so I can take advantage of what I've learnt at my own pace.


Second, I need a good search engine. Not all search engines are created equal and I find Rollyo the most useful, it now occupies a permanent place on my browser.


I like Flickr, but I have no desire to acquire a digital camera at this moment. I enjoy YouTube videos that my friends send me occasionally, I don't think they will be my main source of information and entertainment. On the other hand, downloading a movie, especially the classics, from OverDrive is very appealing to a movie enthusiast like me.


When one of my friends was concerned with his children's school work while he's away on business trip, I suggested Google Doc to him. The fact that he and his children can both work on the same school project at the same time over the internet makes Google Doc more than a word processing program, it becomes a useful parenting tool.


My biggest triumph with "23 Things" came when I threatened my son that I would join Facebook if he didn't answer my e-mails. I know e-mails are passe to him, text messaging and Facebook have become his preferred modes of communication. On the other hand, he doesn't like his mother to stalk him in front of his friends in this social networking site. Thanks to "23 Things", I got his attention and e-mail is back in service, at least for now.


This is the power of the internet and I have just started scratching the surface of it.

This blogpost is created and posted directly from Google Docs. I choose this program over Zoho simply because I have already had a couple of gmail accounts, this makes trying some of the program's appealing features easier.

To start this free service, I don't need to install any software. I very often work from 2 different workstations, now I can have easy access to this service from any one of them.

Google Docs looks and works a lot like many conventional word processing softwares, it requires very little technical expertise to use it. I can invite up to 200 people to share, and 10 people to edit my document simultaneously. This concept of sharing and collaborating is very similar to wiki. Like wiki, all revisions are recorded. Unlike wiki, I have better control over the quality and the access to my work with Googke Doc. I can also add a RSS feed to alert other participants of the latest update.

"Word count" is a nice feature to have too. It is statistics that analyzes the structure of my work, and I can take it as an advice to improve my presentation.

Once my document is created, it's saved and stored automatically inside Google Docs, this makes floppy disks more and more obsolete. It can also be searched by keyword, there's no need to go through the extra step of tagging the document.

Now more and more people turn away from conventional e-mail and prefer to communicate through text messaging and social networking sites, Google Docs, with its many nice features, can make e-mail relevant again.