One of the greatest contrasts that becomes immediately apparent under slight observation is the difference in time between these two readings. While Alexander wrote his article around 2006, Batson wrote his in 2009. It is amazing how pronounced the time difference becomes when one discusses technology. Their examples, while similar in nature, are set in different times. Alexander's examples are near the forefront of web 2.0 technology while Batson's are more in the middle of it. Another difference that sets these two works apart is the attention to technicality and detail. Alexander's article relied more on detailed examples; this can be seen when he discusses blogs, RSS feeds, and wikis. Batson is a little more general and covers a greater amount of topics rather than delve deeply into any one article.
These articles also have some underlying similarities. For one, both articles rely heavily upon direct terms and approach the subject with a plethora of examples. Both writers also talk about web 2.0 with definite excitement and hint at its loose definition. But most importantly, both authors mention how web 2.0 will affect both the office workspace as well as the education sector.
I enjoyed reading your post!
ReplyDeleteGreat job paying attention to the year in which these articles were written and how that time difference can bring varying opinions/information in general. This realization gave me a new perspective from which to analyze the articles. It is interesting, however, that Alexander managed to provide more examples than Batson, who is assumed to be more familiar with the concept of Web 2.0 because of the date of his work. I'm not sure which is better....elaboration on a few topics, or a broad overview of many?
Alex, you make a great point in bringing up the years in which these articles were published. The three years in between publication dates shed light on the numerous technological advances in Web 2.0 during this time. While both articles discuss Web 2.0 in education and in work, one might wonder how Web 2.0 will affect socializing over the web. The other day you and I were discussing the new popular website chatroulette. I am curious to know if you, or these authors, might think chatroulette is an abuse of Web 2.0. Just something to think about...
ReplyDeleteI really like the fact that you paid attention to small details of the articles: the different years in which they were written. I haven't realized it while I was reading the article. 3 years of time difference is definitely a huge gap when regarding technology and this can bring many differences in the authors' opinions. I also liked the title of your blog. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI definitely think the time difference you picked up on was very significant. I didn't even notice it at first. Way to be observant and be able to identify where so of the content differences may have resulted from. Maybe it even accounts for the difference that you mentioned later in the paragraph, that Batson covered more topics than Alexander. Maybe this is because Batson wrote his article more recently, when the different technologies involved with Web 2.0 have become more numerous.
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