Web 2.0 and the Enterprise with Tim O'Rielly

The general session of the DevLearn 08 conference was given by Tim O'Rielly the founder and CEO of O'Rielly Media, http://oreilly.com/. Tim O'Rielly is the person credited with coining the term Web 2.0.  He spoke about the paradigm shift in looking at the Web as the platform and not just a file system. In the course of the session he said that "the future is here it's just not evenly distributed yet." As he said it I reflected back on a conversation that I had with an ex-supervisor many years ago who said that the Web was only a fad and it wouldn't be around after a few years. I disagreed with her then in 1994. I think a lot of organizations are thinking the same things about Web 2.0 technologies, but probably because they don't know exactly how to implement and manage (when what they mean is control) Web 2.0 technologies into their businesses, learning, communication strategies, etc. I was one of them for a while, but I have drank the Web 2.0 kool-aid. I was listening to an NPR report ranting about President-elect Obama's decision to put his weekly address to the country on youtube instead of radio only. I really think that this is a sign of the times, and a good one. So while some organizations are trying to figure out how to control Web 2.0 on their Websites, the next generation (Web 3.0?) is already starting to be developed in coffee shops and dorm rooms around the world. Some organizations are going to be lapped!

Tim O'Rielly said that the way his organization stays up with technology is to talk with "alpha geeks" to see what they are doing and to look at people having fun with technology and figure out what that means. Sometimes I think that instead of trying to play catch up, I think I would be better to try to be ahead of the curve. If I can find something that I can convince our IT group is valuable and doesn't require a lot of upkeep on their part. i might have a chance. Now if I can only find those alpha-geeks to watch. A few months ago I started using Twitter and have 99 followers as of this morning. I am following 102, so maybe some of those folks are alpha geeks and will tweet something I can use. RSS feeds from various blogs from around the world which also might help. Tim mentioned how sensors are becoming more and more popular and how new devices are moving away from conventional keyboards. I am not sure yet what that might mean for developing learning for students, but I am certainly looking forward to finding out.