Chapter 7

Chapter 7 discusses several Web 2.0 tools such as Chinswing, dotSUB, YackPack, and YouTube. All feature online audio technology in various formats. YouTube stood out for its ability to let people view and generate content. The author reviewed several different beneficial examples of this tool in use.

Common Craft 'explains emerging and complex technology in extremely simple ways using hand gestures, cute sayings, metaphors and easily understood steps'. We were able to watch one of these videos in class regarding Social Networking in Plain English. The simplified explanations were very helpful. 'Hundreds of thousands of people have viewed their Wikis in Plain English and RSS in Plain English videos through YouTube.

Matt Harding's story was interestingly involved with YouTube. He became an online phenomenon by sharing videos of himself dancing in different locations around the world. He caught the attention of so many people that a more trips were planned and sponsored. Amazingly, in 2008, 'the United Nations asked Matt to participate in a mission to Africa. YouTube, stride, and the One Laptop per child group are also involved. His mission is to help train teachers in how to use the laptop in a millennium village in Rwanda.

Karl Fisch's life was changed when he put his PowerPoint presentation Did You Know? on YouTube. Various professors have shown this video in a few forms in classes I have taken. The content is very thought provoking. 'For instance, China and India likely have more honor students than there are students in the entire United Stares. Additionally, china will soon become the top English-speaking county in the world. He also noted interesting US business and industry statistics, such as that 25 percent of workers had been employed at their company for less than one year and 50 percent had been at their firm less than five years.'

These examples show the versatility of YouTube as an educational tool. 'As Matt Harding stated, "YouTube is still a massive storage vault for video content. It can be explored, researched, and referenced, and for that it's a useful tool."