University to teach students to implement BitTorrent and Web 2.0 in business

Written by Smaran on October 20, 2006

With the help of IBM, the University of Arizona will put together a course designed to essentially teach people how to apply Web 2.0 services like BitTorrent, blogs, wiki’s and social networks in a business setting.

Most of America’s youth already know about and make use of blogs, wikis, BitTorrent sites and podcasts. IBM and the [...]

With the help of IBM, the University of Arizona will put together a course designed to essentially teach people how to apply Web 2.0 services like BitTorrent, blogs, wiki’s and social networks in a business setting.

Most of America’s youth already know about and make use of blogs, wikis, BitTorrent sites and podcasts. IBM and the University of Arizona are teaming up to help them put their knowledge to use in the business world by teaching them how to actually create and run businesses around these “social technologies.”

Apparently, the interest in information technology among students has significantly decreased. The Association for Computer Machinery has reported that the number of students choosing to study computer science has dropped by an average of 32 percent over the last 4 years. IBM’s aim is to encourage more of today’s students to pursue a degree in information technology.

Gina Poole, IBM’s head of university relations said that “by gaining skills on Web 2.0 and online communities, students can help businesses and employers better market and sell themselves using powerful online mediums.”

The Univeristy of Arizona will in fact be the first to offer so-called ‘Web 2.0 courses’. Social networking has been a growing trend recently and has created a new set of jobs in the tech industry. The demand for a “community manager” is on the rise. IBM wants to prepare students to fill this position.

The course will help students to understand the concept behind social networking and will promote “leadership qualities, collaboration and peer-interaction” in the classes.

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26 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)

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1 Oct 20, 2006 at 21:21 by Jim Craper

I believe this is something that can’t be taught in any university. Web2.0 is an ever changing phenomenon. It changes it’s form even before you get to understand how the current version of web 2.0 is here to work!

2 Oct 20, 2006 at 22:14 by Yatti

I like the concept of it…

3 Oct 21, 2006 at 02:34 by Matt

Everytime i hear the term Web 2.0 i have to supress a gag reflex. New technologies that use the internet may have been developed, but they don’t need a new term to group them.

Now that i got that out of my system, let me applaud the intent of the collaboration between IBM and the UoA. The cynic in me still needs to be convinced of it’s effectivity though.

4 Oct 21, 2006 at 16:53 by argo

[quote comment="16354"]Everytime i hear the term Web 2.0 i have to supress a gag reflex. New technologies that use the internet may have been developed, but they don’t need a new term to group them.

Now that i got that out of my system, let me applaud the intent of the collaboration between IBM and the UoA. The cynic in me still needs to be convinced of it’s effectivity though.[/quote]

I guess you’ll have to wait for Web 2.1.

We all know that versions x dot zero don’t work, don’t we. :)

5 Oct 21, 2006 at 18:04 by Michael Flessas

It is a laudable effort by both IBM and the U of A. Those that do not learn these simple “techiques” (RSS, wikis, blogs) are soon to be behind those who do learn and apply them. Hm. I better hurry up and get those social bookmarking chicklets back up on my blogs. :)

Regards,

Michael Flessas
http://katrineholm.blogspot.com
http://michaelflessas.blogspot.com

6 Oct 21, 2006 at 21:21 by Dave

There is no mention of BitTorrent in the press release.

7 Oct 22, 2006 at 14:01 by Keith

I would like to have a course on BiTorrent in Computer Science studies. That’ll be really helpful.

http://www.neohide.com

8 Oct 22, 2006 at 19:16 by Paul Stamatiou

I’m not so sure it is the “first” university to do so. I’m taking a PHP/MySQL/JS/XML and AJAX information design class at Georgia Tech as well as an interaction design class that covers many of these internet technologies.

9 Oct 24, 2006 at 03:19 by Joel C. Yuvienco

You may wish to take a look at a report on a course taught in De La Salle-Canlubang in late 2005 and early 2006 titled: Web 2.0 as a Teaching Toolset for Creativity and Innovation here. This was followed through by a course on Business Systems Simulation running under the Social Web App development theme and using Ning.com. I guess this is not a question of “firsts”. Perhaps as Haydn Shaughnessy’s digital culture blog declares: “Only Slightly Futuristic”.

10 Oct 24, 2006 at 18:03 by Rawn Shah

I’m not sure if this is the first university to do this either but I did look around to find a similar program anywhere. For those who are wondering, this is not a programming course. This is not on how to develop with AJAX, PHP, etc. rather on the human side of the equation of growing your community.

It’s probably a very variable course right now. We have a lot of material to cover and not enough time to cover it all, not to mention not enough time for the students to do many more assignments than what they have.

In general, it’s something businesses need. Many students even understand or are excited about it, but few seem to understand how businesses use this or how they can get involved in this kind of job.

11 Oct 24, 2006 at 18:05 by Rawn Shah

Oh, forgot to list my wiki with more information about this UAMIS course.

http://www-03.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/rawn/MIS+300+Managing+Online+Communities+course

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