I thought the Web 2.0 article was alright. It was extremely long, and I got a little drowsy along the way, but I thought there was a lot of good information in there. It’s obviously true that society in general is continuing to become more and more digital. (There are certain areas that fall under the category of digital storytelling that I’m not sure I think are 110% a good thing, however, since the points in the article are encouraging creativity about the possibilities of adding animations, pictures, etc. to stories to make them more appealing, I think it is a crucial part of society today, and that it’s important to take into account how dramatic the change in storytelling has become.) By that I mean the way technology has affected society, and what society’s making of it. It’s now much easier to share information through wikis, blogs, YouTube, Facebook, etc. than it was in history, which I think in school/professional/social related environments is mostly a positive thing. However, I do think there are times when society abuses this digital environment – too much technology provides for a distraction, and I personally think it’s safe to assume that society’s well on its way there – but for the sake of being specific to the article and not delving too deeply into my personal opinions, I think overall the ability for someone to have access to different types of features to improve their blogs/projects/etc. is an exciting new advancement in the digital world. With so much digital interaction, I agree that it’s a rapidly evolving new genre, that will only continue to grow and advance. (On the not-so-technical part of the article, I thoroughly enjoy reading, so I don’t agree with the concern that digital storytelling takes away from reading books. As much appeal as a digital story may have, I think it’s a preference, and in terms of reading about people’s personal stories it’s fine, but if I want to read a good book, I’m not going to look for it online – that’s just me.)

I think Creative Commons is a really important article. It allows people to hold onto their original ideas, while still sharing them with others. These days most ideas are derived from other ideas that we build on, so I think it’s good to have the ability to view other peoples work, and build on it, without taking away from it. It’s also an opportunity to see how the public responds to your work, as well as help others learn from it.