Looking at 2.0: 'A user's guide to online technologies'

About the program

If Facebook fills you with fear, Twitter sounds like twaddle and Flickr seems as though it is spelt incorrectly, this is the course for you. Jump online, have a go and learn a bit about 2.0.

Looking @2.0 is a free, online course presented by the State Library of Queensland, supported by OPAL funding. Looking @2.0 is designed to help you navigate through the world of online technologies. Keep up with your kids, find new resources and learn how to stay safe online.

The new, updated course is broken down into eleven modules, each focusing on a theme. Each module will provide you with some background information, activities to get you thinking, a short quiz to test your understanding and a set of links and resources for you to explore more.

You can complete any module that takes your interest, and remember - take your time. This is a self-paced course so go as fast or as slowly as you like.

Web 2.0 - What is it?

You have probably already used Web 2.0 without realising it. The term 'Web 2.0' is a phrase first coined in 1999 by web designer Nicci DiNucci and is commonly associated with web applications that allow sharing or collaboration among users.

Any time you are online adding a comment, writing a review, giving a star rating, creating a profile or contributing your thoughts or content, you are using Web 2.0.

As explained in Wikipedia:

"A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or to change website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them."

Modules

Organise yourself
Organise your books, your life and your research. Learn how to create a virtual library, a to-do list online and keep a track of the sites you like.

Talk & connect
Chat with your loved ones through Facebook, Skype and more. Distance is no barrier to modern communication. Your conversations can be instant and the cost largely free. Learn the secret to free overseas calls and video link ups and find useful tools for quick communication with family, friends and colleagues.

Get it out there
Release your inner writer and publish your thoughts online. Creating your own website is no longer an expensive or complicated exercise. In a matter of hours, you can have a piece of world wide web real estate to call your very own.

Keep up to date
Keep your finger on the pulse and hear about it as it happens. The world of online news is instant and stories can be sourced from anyone, anywhere, anytime. The result is information that is up to the second, specific to all ages and interests and as local or global as you require.

Share your photos
Share your memories and experiences through your photos. Bulky family albums, susceptible to damage, loss and aging can be a thing of the past. Store, edit and share your photos online.

Keep it forever
Create a memory box of your digital life. Learn how to back up your digital life, storing photographs, home movies, emails, webpages and even Facebook data, keeping it for now and in the future.

Playing around
Explore the world of online gaming. Whether you need a short game to take up some spare time or are looking for a like minded online community to share and compete with, there is an offering in the online gaming world to suit you.

2.0 on the go - Inside the world of Apps, iPhones, smartphones and iPads
Maxwell Smart's infamous Shoe Phone pioneered the mobile phone way back in the 60s. Discover the phone evolution with the millions of applications now available for download to smartphones and iPads.

Listen, watch & mix it
Enter the world of podcasting, vodcasts and mash-ups. Learn to make your own podcasts, vodcasts and video and join this world of overnight celebrities.

Hack & mash
Create your own digital mashup. Take the Listen Watch & Mix It module to another level: re-use, recycle, and reinvent digital material into new and exciting applications.

Get more & explore
Get creative with the quirky, fun and unusual. Discover the more unusual, interesting and quirky offerings available on the World Wide Web. Some are useful, some are amusing and all are a great way to waste some time. Find out where to go from here - get a glimpse of new internet innovations and how to keep up with it all.