Best of Web2.0 (2006)

Dion Hinchliffe's "The Best of Web2.0 software (2006) " a sequel to his enormously popular "best of ... in 2005" has already been viewed over 17,000 times.
Dion rates 2006 as "one of the most remarkable growth surges in Web application history."
Winners (and runners up) in many categories would probably bring no arguments (eg. MySpace in Social Networks, YouTube in Social Media Sharing and Zoho Office2.0 suite in this category.

However, I was very surprised to see him rate StumbleUpon ahead of del.icio.us in social bookmarking. I rate Pageflakes just ahead of Netvibes in personal start pages with YourMinis (recently relaunched as reviewed by Techcrunch) a definite watch in this space.
Dion predicts a bright future for mashups in 2007 and this is an area I intend to explore further and all things Ajax in 2007.
Meanwhile, Flickr goes from strength to strength.

Dion's article highlights the growing number of quality web apps in many Web2.0 categories and the huge growth in interest and adoption of these (largely free) tools which are changing the ways we operate, communicate, collaborate, relate ...
And how much of this is evident in education, particularly the schools sector?

"We have begun moving all our software, data, and even our social activities onto the Web en masse and the demand for high-quality online sites and applications that support this shift in primary focus from the PC to the Internet." (Dion Hinchliffe)

Dion's excellent Web2.0 Journal along with Techcrunch, Programmable Web (mashups), Shambles in S.E. Asia Web2.0 and eHub, are favourite sources of up to date information, views and reviews.

Cool Tools to explore

So many cool tools to explore with potential for use by educators (for professional learning and classroom) and students!

Tiny Map provides a simple web app based on Googlemaps, waypoints and embedded notes to quickly create a map and unique URL/code for each map. The example here represents Victoria Square, the centre of the city of Adelaide, South Australia.

Other tools with potential include: Woophy (not in the Flickr league (a favourite) but an interesting map-based interface, themed photo contest and ratings);

Yahoo! Pipes (create data mashups and remix popular feed types); Sketchr (Draw, save and share your online art); Yugma (free web conferencing service); Flash Earth; Basecamp (project management); Leafletter (mini website); Letterpop; Mapwing – virtual tours; Scrapblogs; Many Eyes (data visualisation) and more, including a variety of mashups, audio and geospatial tools.

The open source authoring tool, eXe , particularly the 0.20.2 (ready to run version) is very promising. It includes i-devices and pedagogical tips and facilitates re-mixing content, including Media Wiki content. eXe is an e-learning tool that provides professional web-publishing capabilities that can be easily referenced or imported by learning management systems. I use Moodle. Content can be exported, including SCORM objects. Forum activity suggests an increasing user base.

Any comments or examples from educators using any of these (or similar) tools?