Vendor-Driven Misperceptions about Web 2.0 in Schools
June 25th, 2007There I was, having coffee, enjoying the sunrise, and reading an amusing article in today’s Computerworld about how IBM’s proprietary technology is ready now to bring Web 2.0 to the business world:
IBM last week launched an effort to extend Web 2.0 to the corporate world by unveiling team collaboration, social computing and Web mashup development tools.
The new Quickr 8, Lotus Connections and Info 2.0 products are part of IBM’s new “Web 2.0 Goes to Work†initiative, which aims to expand business use of popular consumer technologies like blogs, wikis and social networks, said Rod Smith, vice president of emerging technologies.
Web 2.0 technology can help workers more easily brainstorm and collaborate with one another and with corporate partners and customers, explained Smith.
John Tincher, global Lotus Notes administrator at Flint Group North America, said that his firm has made limited use of Web 2.0 technologies to date and that he doubts they will become business-critical in the near term. “Having the social networking at some point will be wonderful, but I don’t see it taking root at least for another couple of years in our environment,†he said.
And that’s when the trouble started 
As silly as this article is in presuming that the corporate world needs Lotus to lead the way with proprietary software CHARMINGLY named using a synonym for term wiki – Quickr 8? Uh, folks, Ward Cunningham says”wiki” means “quick” in Hawaiian – I wouldn’t normally post about non-education items.
So why am I agititated? Computerworld throws this disturbing segment in near the top:
Vijay Sonty, CIO for Broward County Public Schools in Sunrise, Fla., said that the tools won’t likely benefit the K-12 education sector until IBM can come up with specific features needed there.
For example, the Web 2.0 tools should support training programs for the district’s 15,000 teachers and add the security capabilities required to receive federal monies, he said.
Vijay….what are you smoking, buddy? As “CIO” of our district’s educational technology department, I’m excited to have wiki and other tools for collaborative work. In fact, I am a non-IT guy, but can’t believe the impact Web 2.0 has had our organization’s ability to do the very things that you say can’t yet occur.