Kicking and Screaming into Web 2 - Reflections on Module 1

I have decided I am a Web 1 person at heart when it comes to news. I am more than happy to view BBC or ABC news online and when I lived in Canada was more than happy to regularly check The Sydney Morning Herald online. But never have I had the urge to respond to it.

I love reading my niece's blog and the blogs of friend's children as they travel the ends of the earth. On occasion I have even commented on an entry in an email to them, but comment on the blog not at all. I will admit to considering creating a blog for my time in Canada, but decided monthly emails were more than I could stand and figured if I actually emailed I would at least have a few people reading 'my news'.

Here I am a few years later blogging away for no apparent reason but to reflect on Web 2. My relationship with the Web 1 or 2 is one of convenience, search around to find a cheap airline ticket, book a theatre ticket online, read a few reviews, even comment on the ease of navigating a website, but the idea of building a farmyard or increasing the number of online friends is something I can see myself doing only in retirement, which seems further away every budget day.

I remember staying in a friend's house at one time and being introduced to her son's online friends somewhere between midnight and 3 am. Woken from a deep sleep by invading Aliens! At this point I can thankfully say I can't remember the exact group he belonged to, but finding Aliens with like minded 'friends' in the middle of the night became an issue when communicating with real people in the middle of the day was required.

As for education I can always see a million possibilities and then the 'Grumpy old Woman' enters. In fact the reflecting was nearly sacked before it began. A Friday breakfast meeting with like minded colleagues to work on Web2 seemed the way to go. I arrived first at the meeting, I even brought my own laptop. Well how easy the tasks for Module 1 seemed, log on, watch a few videos, create a user name and get a gmail account. Huh this is where a script for 'Grumpy Old Women' could really be written. No way was my computer and the school wireless internet going to come together to let such a thing as create a gmail account occur. It was at this stage I thought, hmm maybe I should have given in and created that gmail on one of the many invitations I have had. Not to be disheartened I gave up on my own laptop to use my classroom desktop. Not on your life. The Web 2 page in my classes will not even fully open. Still ever hopeful I sought the help of the IT technician. After trying, where did he get? - as far as asking for my user ID and password to look into the problem as he 'can't figure out what the problem could be.'

It might seem I am beginning with the negative side of the Web2. However, no matter how easy software and searching the web might be unless you can trust the hardware or alternatively know what to do when something goes wrong, the episodes of 'Grumpy Old Women' will continue to have content. Meanwhile I look forward to efficiently using ' My Wiki

Nevertheless here I am with my Web 2 encounter at home, back on my laptop and wireless. It seems their relationship is much better!