Web 2.0 is the buzzword

By me sharing this video, I am engaging in this phenomenon that is changing our world as we know it - web 2.0

By blogging, tagging, flickring, we are implicitly changing the way we share, collaborate and know the world and this has also very much changed the way our world works. Not just in the ways that is highlighted in the video, although it nearly brings me to tears, touched at the beauty and simplicity of this video.

Indeed, the way the environmental "movement", ideas of conservation, of environmental awareness, outreach, sharing, inspiration, motivations, passing on of information in Singapore has changed tremendously and in fact expanded by leaps and bounds thanks to the wonders and beauty of Web 2.0

For example, I can upload my photos of my beachflea trip to Hantu and tomorrow somebody searching for "hantu" tags might be introduced to the beauty of our southern shores and from there he might then see my blog and then linked on to the many issues by looking at tags, through del.icio.us or other such aggregators. Somebody can then submit it to tomorrow.sg or any other blog aggregators and it's picked up on my online RSS reader and when that piqued my interest I will read and find out more. Likewise, photos and videos can be linked and shared with ease on a user-created wikipedia entry on Pulau Hantu and then contribute the information they have on the great biodiversity on Hantu and then linking other bloggers like the Hantu Blog, they find out about reclamation projects. Friends or people who are interested can then share a document and edit it together through Google documents (previously writely) can then make the document public. People can collaborate on the same document across borders. That is the beauty of Web 2.0 connectivity.

We have much to accredit and thank Web 2.0 for many wonderful changes and progress we have seen in the last 7 years in Singapore. From print-to-web projects, there are now a committed "army" of nature bloggers online, making an impact. Sometimes we are so deeply entrenched in the depth of web 2.0 connectivity that we don't take a step back and realize the immensity of our actions and our connectivity. But yet at the same time, do we think about whether are we still just reaching out only to the "converted"? Do the rest of the blogosphere and the internet community know of this group of niche bloggers?

Yes, we have increased the sharing of information and the speed of which messages are passed and spread through Singapore and the world but perhaps we need to examine if we can better harness this technology and reach out to even more people in Singapore!

I look forward to such a day because I've already seen a hint of the future in the use of web 2.0 by the nature-loving, environmentally-aware community in Singapore in the last 4 years.

More Reads:
"Communicating Biodiversity", Otterman Speaks, 30 Nov 2005
"Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers", Otterman and Lekowala, 24 Nov 2006 (Recommended)
"Blog Tech Explored", Otterman Speaks, 27 Jun 2005
"Compilation of 2.0 Tools for School", Solution Watch, 29 Sept 2006
"What is web 2.0", O'Reilly, 30 Sept 2005