I first learned about Web 2.0 four years when a friend asked me to what she called business social networking for her small independent company. It was not an easy job for me. The hardest part of the job was learning the frustrations of a businesswoman whose copyrighted materials were doing her more harm than good.
In different forms and media, her copyrighted materials were available online for free and the dependency on copyrighted goods limited her access to her target clients. The worst part of it was that I was part of that target client base that participated in online sharing instead of purchasing. After awhile it became obvious that the copy right materials were not working anymore, and it was necessary to participate in open spaces – openly sharing ideas, projects, and feedback.

In the business world, I don’t think the benefits/losses and options/necessities of open spaces or closed, copyrighted materials is always distinct as in my experience above. However, I think this example highlights the advantages of open participatory web 2.0 and the creative commons.

In “Web 2.0 Storytelling: Emergence of a New Genre” Bryan Alexander and Alan Levine smashed my ideas of boring business web 2.0 and explained how the web 2.0 programs and websites are transforming our ideas and practices of storytelling. I am amazed at the surge of accessibility to personal storytelling. Daily forms of communication have become threads – constructing personal narratives throughout the day, the past week, the past month, and years. Emails are no longer replies but ongoing threads that can be exported and shared. Text message inboxes and sent messages have been combined into person-to-person threads, interactive narratives. Personal communication devices are instrumental to tracking and constructing our lives into stories that can be developed and shared through daily digital interactions.