Information about some technology you can use for communicating your projects:

This page is dated, since most people are more web-savvy now. But the information may still be helpful, so I'll leave it up. 

Definitions & Examples

What is all this web technology stuff?

I've listed a few examples of each. Google around to find more. On some sites there are many of these things going on, not just one. The beauty of Web 2.0 is that it lets you mix it up as you need to in order to achieve your communication goals. Also check Wikipedia for more detailed definitions & examples.

__Panic Alert!__You will probably find that an awful lot of interactive sites you bump into refer to techie stuff like computer programming, electronics, video gaming, etc. This is not a limitation of the actual technology, but a reflection of the fact that early adopters are generally techno-geeks. Don't let it intimidate you! Many sites will also be an outgrowth of a very specific social group, so terminology & slang abounds--again, don't let them shake you! Just because they can't communicate outside their peer group of 14 doesn't mean the technology is flawed :)

1. Web 2.0: In the past, the web has functioned sort of as an "information silo", with very little interaction between content providers & content users. While not a new technical standard, Web 2.0 is a phrase coined to refer to recent web applications like those on this page which facilitate content creation, collaboration and sharing between users. Since these applications do not require technical web skills, this results in decentralized authority, open communication, freedom to share & reuse content. Users of Web 2.0 don't need to worry about finding & paying for a web hosting service, finding software for editing HTML & upoading files via FTP. They just sign up & create their own website with simple point & click tools. Web 2.0 also emphasizes the ability to track rapidly changing web content using feeds & aggregators. Examples: below. See Wikipedia for a more indepth discussion & for examples other than those on this page.
2. Blog: The term "blog" is a shortened version of "web log". Blogs are websites that display entries in reverse chronological order. Blogs make updating websites about as complicated as sending an e-mail. Most blogs are solo projects, but they can be team efforts & generally offer a way for readers to interact by leaving comments or adding linkbacks. Although most blogs are text only, they can also display multimedia like photos, video or audio, although blogs with multi-media focus are usually called by different names, i.e. podcast, v-log. Examples: Sagehen News

3. Podcast: a podcast is basically a blog that offers audio files instead of primarily text. Examples: Sagehen Podcast
4. V-log: short for "video log"; basically a blog that offers vidio files instead of primarily text. Examples: Sagehen Video
5. RSS feed: feeds are a way of accessing and reusing web content. Feeds used to be mostly used to aggregate content from many websites with "newsreaders", but now they are mostly used for embedding content like news items in another web page. 
6. Wiki: From Wikipedia: "A wiki (sometimes wiki wiki) is a web application designed to allow multiple authors to add, remove, and edit content." Examples: Wikipedia, Sagehen Wiki (this page), Ideas about how to use a wiki
7. Forum: From Wikipedia: "An Internet forum is a web application for holding discussions and posting user generated content. Internet forums are also commonly referred to as web forums, message boards, discussion boards, (electronic) discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards." Examples: DV Magazine forum
8. Social bookmark: Ever go to an on-line article & see a bunch of little icons at the bottom like on this page? Those are links to social bookmarking sites. From Wikipedia: "On a social bookmarking system or network, users store lists of Internet resources that they find useful. These lists can be accessible to the public by users of a specific network or website. Other users with similar interests can view the links by topic, category, tags, or even randomly." Examples: Digg, del.icio.us, Technorati, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
9. Photo sharing: From Wikipedia: "Photo sharing is the publishing or transfer of a user's digital photos online, thus enabling the user to share them with others (whether publically or privately). This functionality is provided through both websites and applications that facilitate the upload and display of images. The term can also be loosely applied to the use of online photo galleries that are setup and managed by individual users, including photoblogs." Examples: Skiing & Mountaineering in the Alps.
10. Social Network: These are generally web sites that simplify & combine many of the applications on this list into a single site with networking tools built in for sharing content & interacting with other users. Examples: MySpace, FaceBook, YouTube
11. BitTorrent: Torrents are a legitimate technology with a shady rep because they are often used for illegal file-sharing. A Torrent is a way of distributing really big files--like movies or software installation packages--without bogging down the servers or worrying about interrupted downloads. Basically, all the users of the torrent share little pieces of the files, so you get a "swarm" of little downloads from many locations instead of one big balky one.
12. Widgets: Widgets are little programs that you can download to run on your desktop or put on a webpage. Typically, they display or manipulate data or information you select from another web source, like your Amazon.com booklist, web-cam images or weather data. Examples: A Mountain Guide's gear recommendations, Books by Sagehen researchers.

Free Web 2.0 services

As with everything related to the web, there are many ways to skin the cat. You can buy software products & web hosting services, of course, but you don't have to. There are lots & lots of free on-line services & applications available to help you get your projects on line. Many of them offer various levels of service--you can try the free version & if you want more features or control, then subscribe to an enhanced version. Here are some I've used--you can Google around to find others. Be aware that things change pretty frequently--companies are bought & sold, features are added or dropped, business models change, there's suddenly a fee for service, etc. I find that if you stick to these leaders you have fewer headaches, but be sure to keep back-ups of your content, just in case.

Free Blogging service:

• Blogger: excellent on-line blog hosting!
• WordPress: if you can't use a web-based blog host for privacy reasons or firewall problems, this is a great open-source solution for your intranet or the internet.

Free Podcasting hosting:

• Podomatic: great, but they recently added advertising to the free pages.

Free Wiki hosting:

• Peanut Butter Wiki: this site is a PBwiki site. Not a lot of control over appearance with the free version.

Free Photo Sharing: 

• Flickr: probably the best photo site at present: a very long history, lots of free storage (1Tb). It's very popular & works well, but some people complain that it's social networking is not up to snuff, and agency/bureaucracy networks have problems with the application (and others) due to tight internet security.
• shutterfly: a really easy interface, very popular.

Free Video Sharing:

• YouTube: gone are the days of 100MB file upload size limits. YouTube is the 800 lb. Gorilla and their interface is really effortless. They added editing tools so you can mash-up videos on-line to create new masterpieces without needing your own video editing software.

Free Swag Creation:

• CafePress lets you offer t-shirts, mugs, bags, stickers, etc., with your artwork on them without having to do anything but upload an image & with no minimum orders. Make a t-shirt as part of each classroom project. Raise a couple of bucks for supplies.