» Recession: Good AND Bad for Tech Wired Wednesday: Ed. Tech. Ed. Talk.

by Jeff Williams

Web 2.0 is a term which I am getting extremely tired of hearing. Don’t get me wrong, I love what Web 2.0 has done for education (and me personally). In fact, Web 2.0 has done more for revolutionizing American education than Mr. Bennet could ever have dreamed back in 1983. Because of Web 2.0 classroom tools - FREE tools not to mention - teachers all over the country world are using some pretty sophisticated and downright AWESOME web-based programs which help teachers teach and stimulate the creative minds of students every day.

In looking at today’s really bad economic downturn, I can’t help but think back at economic downturns of the early 1990’s and early 2000’s and their effects on the tech world. During both the recession of the early 90’s and the dot com implosion of 2001 when thousands in the tech industry lost their jobs, what ended up happening was one of the most astounding creative tech movements since the early days of the personal computer. Software engineers and developers who had been laid off all of a sudden had plenty of time to work on personal projects, brainstorm, and be creative. Examples of this was the creation of web-based companies siuch as ebay, Amazon, Craigslist, wikipedia and others. Even though ebay and Amazon had been around for a few years before 2000, it was the emphasis of web-based companies and moving commerce onto the web that really opened people’s eyes and imaginations as to what could be achieved on the Web.

Now when I went to title this post I went back and forth as to whether I should put anything positive about a recession or economic downturn because many, many people are hurting right now. There is NOTHING positive about people losing their jobs, their homes, and even sometimes their lives. However, we need to understand that throughout ALL of history, people have responded differently to crisis; and for most of our history, the response to crisis has been to build, create, and innovate. So just like the tech innovators of the past, we will rebuild, we will create, and we will innovate.

Am I still tired of the term Web 2.0? Yeah. But I will never tire of what Web 2.0 will always represent for me: what people can do when faced with hard and desperate times. And I will continue to benefit from Web 2.0 and from the work of some of the most creative and innovative people in the world.

Here is a list of - just a few - of the programs and websites I use that have come from the world of web 2.0: