This project is about emerging technologies and their use in delivering enhanced and innovative youth engagement programmes. We are discussing the projects, and the technologies here on this blog in the hope that many Youth Engagement professionals will find this a useful resource, will be encouraged by our ideas and will discuss their own ideas in this collaborative space.
We aim to explore a range of new technologies and tools and as such, our readers and project collaborators may not be aware of all of these technologies and how they can be used. This “Technologies Explained” page aims to offer some guidance. If we have included a term in our blog that hasn’t been explained, and you’d like more help, please let us know.
We recommend the use of the Open Source Wiki Encyclopedia project “Wikipedia” and so have provided links to Wikipedia articles as a springboard to a wealth of further information.
Social Media
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media
Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and content. It is a term used to describe a variety of online tools which enable users to be social; to share something in some way.
Social Media tools include:
- Photosharing websites e.g. Flickr or Photobucket
Videosharing websites e.g. YouTube or Google Video
Online communities such as MySpace, and Facebook
Online information sites such as Wikipedia, Upcoming, the open events listings site, DIGG the reader-rated news site, or Craig’s List, the innovator in classifieds
Blogs whereby users can not only read, but comment, feedback, and reblog
Microblogging and mobile blogging whereby users can update online content and communties via simple messages or ‘presence updates’ e.g. Jaiku
Podcasts and video podcasts (or vlogs or videoblogs)
Social Media tools and spaces are often free to use, and attract many users growing communities in which participatns live more and more of their lives online.
Emerging Technologies
In the context of the OurOpenSpace Project, we are using the term emerging technologies to mean:
New and future technologies, or systems (for example online communities) which can be adapted to use within a Youth Engagmeent framework. We use the term to include Social Media Tools, and Open Source Technologies and to describe some technologies which have been developed and widely used in some contexts; but which are ‘emerging’ in their adoption within the Youth Engagemernt and Public Sector framework.
Blogs and Blogging
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogging
The term ‘blog’ is short for weblog; a web log, or diary, often maintained by an individual or group. Blogs have certain characteristics:
Blog entries are displayed in a reverse-chronological order meaning new content comes first. Blogs are often powered by fully featured content management systems making adding new posts easy. Readers can usually comment on posts and feedback their thoughts. Blogs come with ‘feeds’ which means blog content can be syndicated elsewhere and read as a feed in a feed reader.
This is a blog!
Wordpress
WordPress is a blog publishing system, it is very popular, has a growing fan base and user community. It is built using Open Source technologies, and is the preferred blog publishing system amongst many bloggers, and the social media community. It is fully customisable, and can be used to create any type of blog or updateable website. This blog was made using Wordpress. Blogs can be customised using ‘themes’. This blog uses a customised version of the K2 theme for Wordpress.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordpress
http://wordpress.org/
http://wordpress.com/
RSS / Feeds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feedburner
RSS is a format used to publish frequently updated online content, such as blogs, news feeds or podcasts. Users can view RSS ‘feeds’ of content rather than visiting web pages to view the content there. Feeds can be read in feed readers. RSS can also be used in other ways for example as a way of alerting readers that new conent is available. RSS is used to create podcasts. The initials RSS stand for Really Simple Syndication.
You can subscribe to this blog via the RSS feed. We use a service called Feedburner to provide a feed of the blog. To subscribe to the RSS feed, or just to view it, use a feed reader, or if you have a browser with a feed reader built in such as Safari (on a Mac), just click the RSS icon in the address bar of any page with a feed.
