Welcome to the official kickoff of the Community 2.0 learning experience. I covered a few questions about the progam in the last blog post, but I will give you some more information in this introduction.
About the Course
The plan for this course is to deliver new lessons twice a week, via this blog. To participate in the course, follow along with the discovery exercises. The idea is that we will learn Web 2.0 tools by using Web 2.0 tools, and begin a discussion of how we can use these tools to expand our community and ministries at Redeemer (or wherever you may be). You may participate in this course entirely online, but if you prefer to supplement your instruction in person at Redeemer, the topics of the Tech Talks held between the Sunday services will parallel the online lessons. (If you are not able to attend the Tech Talks but would like to discuss the course face-to-face, please let me know and if possible we will find an alternate time to meet.)
Although the lessons will be presented twice a week, you may follow along at your own pace. I do ask that everyone please complete the first two lessons (on blogs and RSS) because those technologies will recur in later lessons. How much of each discovery exercise you do is entirely up to you, and if you feel more comfortable following along anonymously or using a synonym that is certainly fine. This course will not be graded! Questions are welcome - whether you are a complete newbie or you try to keep up on trends, I hope you will participate. Please respect the questions of all participants, and offer your own expertise and experiences as we move along.
Since this is a church-sponsored course, I will attempt to present each week an example of how church communities and the Episcopal Church are using the various technologies. However, I encourage you to explore the use of these technologies for your own interests as well. Chances are, whatever you’re into, there are other people on the internet who are also into it.
A note about this blog: comments are moderated, so when you submit a comment there will be a delay before it appears publicly. You do need to enter your email address to leave a comment, but it will not appear on the page - only I will see that. If you enter a web address, that will appear publicly. (To leave a comment, click on the link at the bottom of the post. It may say No Comments - that just means no one has yet commented.)
About Your Guide
My name is Ellen Wilson and I am a member of the vestry at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. I am also an instruction and technology librarian at the University of South Alabama. I have been fascinated with computers and technology since I was a child. I created my first website in 1994 and have continued to experiment with many developments since, for both personal and professional use.
I hope that by facilitating the course, I can help you explore and become comfortable with aspects of the web and technology that you have not previously encounterd. You may decide that you still don’t like blogs, RSS, Facebook, or Twitter, and that’s fine. You may find that you like one technology but not another, or you may become a techie like Father Ray. The journey is yours and I hope it will be enjoyable.
