Tech Tuesday RETURNS: Writing the Web One Image at a Time

As we continue to make the evolution from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, I am astounded by the number of excellent creativity tools available for learners.  Web 2.0, which ushered the era of content-creation, social media, and production (Google, YouTube, etc.) , following the dot-com crash in 2001, brought with it tremendous tools for learning.  Now we're beginning to see the impact Web 3.0, which empowers users to re-create, mix, transform, and produce new forms of information (Mozilla, Tagxedo, etc.).

Students now have the ability not to just be consumers of the web, but to be producers.  There are numerous sites and applications that invite students to collect web parts, information, graphics, and media and mix them together to create a new interpretation of that topic or idea (Glogster, Videolicious, etc.)

Today I'd like to share a site that is rather new to me but that is simple to use and grasp for students and teachers:  Thinglink.com

A Thinglink is a visual representation of a topic that embeds pictures, graphics, sound, text, and links.  A creator chooses an image as the background and then can link in web content, providing a digitally engaging and unique experience. 

It's quick and easy to register and create an account with the opportunity to link your Facebook or Twitter account for set up.  Then, you begin by importing a picture from your hardrive, choosing from your Facebook albums, browsing Flickr's public photo gallery, or providing a web address for photo.

You are able to share your creation through Google+, Edmodo, Facebook, Twitter, and many other social platforms or by the link, like here (Thinglink for the book Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein).

Thinglink is also available as a gadget for blog services.  Check out the gadget on my blog on the upper-left hand corner!