Further thoughts on Reader 1

So after posting my 'Initial thoughts on Reader 1', reading other people's thoughts and thinking about the comments people had made on my blog, I felt I wanted to discuss some of the points further and develop certain initial thoughts.....

Bruns (2007) described the Web 2.0 creation as 'Produsage'.  The idea that as we each participate in Web 2.0, we are both producer and consumer and that we both produce the material and use it for our own purposes.  Phil Carroll uses a great analogy of the 'Chicken and Egg' scenario. Which came first, did we change the way we communicate with each other, i.e did we choose web based interaction over actual human interaction and hence Web 2.0 sites were created, or were these sites created and this made us change our method of communication? I personally feel that it is a circle effect, just as is the Producer and Consumer idea.  I feel the demand was there for the Web 2.0, but its growth is inconceivable and now there is a whirlwind of sites and tools, a handful of which I am just starting to get to grips with!

Although the idea of Producer/Consumer has to be utilised in order for Web 2.0 to remain successful, where do we draw the line? or is there no line to be drawn? The purpose of developing my Web 2.0 knowledge will be mainly for Professional reasons.  Don't get me wrong, I love the idea that with Facebook you can catch up with old friends at the touch of a button and on Youtube you can watch that favourite song from back in the day with just a quick search, but personally I feel we need to make more effort to interact with people in the 'Old Fashioned Way'.  With each development in Web 2.0 we are losing more and more of that personal interaction, something which no amount of technology can replace and I truly believe we need more of this in today's society, however I do understand that today's pace of life does not always allow for this.

There is no doubting that Web 2.0 can enhance our professional practice and my focus for now is how can I utilise it further to enhance my career? I touched briefly on the use of Youtube in my initial thoughts, I would usually use Youtube to watch a funny video that had been recommended or listen to a favourite song, however I could utilise this so much more.  For example, if I was struggling with a certain piece of choreography I could search for videos of that specific choreographers work and so much could be taken from this; the generic style, themes, motifs, consistent features in each piece etc...

After reading other people's initial thoughts it is clear to see that everyone thinks of it as a great creation, but we have to manage it for our specific purpose.  Do we really want our future employer to see inappropriate facebook photos? Think carefully about it's power, the power to enhance us professionally, but also the power to destroy us professionally.  As the producer you control the content but it is so easy for this control to slip out of our hands.  For me, I shall be really thinking about Web 2.0 as a professional tool and hopefully how it can enhance my Professional Practice!