Loved this picture when I first saw it and it sums not only social software in the middle, but all of Web 2.0’s offerings. I also like the concept of radical trust as the net and these technologies do assume a certain amount of ethics behind the contributions. But also for a service like del.icio.us it also doesn’t make sense to destroy your own account. That, I think, is what’s great about the truly connecting Web 2.0 applications – you own your account, and yet you are contributing to the whole collective, thereby creating its own ethics through ownership. Brilliant!

A great example of Web 2.0 systems for educational use is from E-club » Blog Archive » Web 2.0 tools in an education context

For example, what about if we ask them to set up a del.ic.ious account (or find one relevant to their topic?), encourage some serendipitious searching and get them to tag their finds with relevant categories of their choosing. They could then develop content to be published in a form of their choosing, maybe even a collaborative task such as a wiki on the topic. We would still have the necessary ‘objects’ that could be assessed- both in content and use of technology, they would be using tools that they both like and need, and we would all learn a lot together through the experience. As teachers we would not be in the drivers seat but would rather work alongside them and guide them on the appropriate use of these tools.