'Web New.0' + 'Edu-creation'

Web 2.0 and Social Media, while they have some negative connotations associated with them, explore the new generations of software capability. These new applications and entities take full advantage of the fundamental ideas behind networking and apply this to the web. With these technologies, anyone can publish anything, from virtually (no pun-intended) anywhere around the globe. It has become almost a sort of main-stream pioneering, a collaborative effort forward.

These new innovations, I'll call them 'Web.0,' encourage participation; and the best part is that they are inherently open and social. I would love to have an intellectual boxing match with someone who would argue: "These innovations will ruin education as we know it." I would tell that someone to substitute the word 'ruin' for the word 'change.'
Our New Media class has proven, via this very blog, (along with much more,) that said someone is wrong. I estimate that "Olives on My Pizza" has 'trafficked' 150,000 to 500,000 characters during the month of July. This was just an Intro to New Media class--by this I mean that no one needed any complex understanding of computer software for this astonishing information exchange and collaboration to take place. Let's say, for argument sake, that at least one half of the 120+ blogs that our class has contributed are relevant, interesting, and/or meaningful. That means that a tiny, 10 or so different students, have contributed a net of at least 60 blogs that are educationally significant.

Allow me to get a few final points across:
Vast amounts of information are out there... so why not use this information to re-create, feedback, and re-mediate new ideas and entities? This really applies to education; especially as it pertains to creativity.
Tangible research will continue... (i.e.-the Medical fields, non-Computer Sciences along with hybrid ones that do incorporate the 'Cyber World' somewhat, etc.)... so the free-flow of information can be of great aid to these "Tangible" fields.
Overall, 'Web New.0,' as I'm calling it, offers very intriguing, unmatched resource of functionality. Exploiting this grants new and high potential, especially for the future of learning and communications.