Monday, July 5, 2010
As educators, we come to expect our Web 2.0 applications to be free. We use social media, like Twitter and Facebook. We create social networks for our digital classrooms, and we build classroom web sites, using wikis.
Twitter, Facebook and Skype have paved the way for 21st century educators to create classroom environments, rife with technology and enriched with Web 2.0 interactivity.
How long will this last, though?
It seems that as quickly as one open source Web 2.0 application crops up, another dies or suddenly comes with a price tag. Recently, the podcast host, Gcast, shut its doors, with slide share and screen capture host, Screentoaster, following shortly thereafter. Now, the social network, Ning, is charging a monthly fee to hosts its social networks, after being free for years.
One has to wonder, how long these fledgling Web 2.0 open source applications can continue to offer their services at no cost.
Do these closings and new price tags signal the demise of free Web 2.0 applications?
