I’m chuckling out loud as I write this post. You see I just came across a new application that claims to provide wisdom on demand. Gosh, oh golly, I wish I could have accessed this Web 2.0 app during my first year of teaching! I’m intrigued by grandiose claims and decided to perform a search for additional wisdom-oriented Web 2.0 apps. Would you believe my search yielded ten very different applications? And none of them were at all similar. I guess wisdom comes in many forms online, as well as in real life. At the very least, maybe the three applications I am sharing in my post today will help you become more wise to the wiles of some web 2.0 resources that claim to be wisdom-oriented.

i-Wise – the byline for this application is “wisdom on command.” (if only it were that easy in real life). The goal of this site is to “organize the world’s wisdom and make it universally accessible and useful.” If you are a person who enjoys reading through quotes (like me) you will find this site fascinating. You can search for quotes using #hashtags (in the twitter world when you type # in front of a word (see the Twitter Fan Wiki for a definition of hashtag). Don’t worry…you do not need a twitter account to enjoy this online source of wisdom. If you do not see a hashtag that suits your search needs, you can also search the site by typing in words, thoughts, questions, author names, or phrases. The site also features quotes of the day, featured authors, and twitter feeds that include your search criteria. When you find a quote that you like, you can retweet the quote with the ease of clicking on a link, gift it, save it, copy it, bookmark it. See the graphic below for a visual sample of some quotes I received when I searched for the word tenacity.

Below is a sample of how a downloaded PowerPoint slide looks…

Overall, I think this application would be handy to use if you wanted to post a quote as a writing prompt or use a prompt as part of a presentation. It’s also very interesting to see what people are twittering…though you do need to know that you could be projecting unfiltered content if you chose to share this online application in the classroom.

Quotes Daddy.com- this is another site that popped up when I queried Google for Web 2.0 wisdom applications. The application does not offer as many bells and whistles as i-Wise, but it offered a lot more quote results when I ran sample searches for similar key words. The site boasts “over 1,000,000 famous quotes and user quotes that you can save to your favorites, subscribe to, share with friends, add to your site or blog and post in your social network.” When you register for an account you have the option to add your own quotes…”Become famous! Share your wit, insights and wisdom with the world. If enough QuotesDaddy users vote for your quote (by adding it to their favorites), it will be featured in our permanent famous quotes collection alongside quotes by Churchill, Einstein and Mark Twain…” This could offer students an interesting challenge…would their quote be good enough for inclusion on the site? You can sign up for an RSS feed on any of the tagged searches…a nice feature if you are looking for themed quotes. You can also email a quote to friends or embed a quote on your site (like the one below)…

Factoidz – this wisdom-oriented site does not focus on quotations, instead it focuses on the “wisdom of the group.” Factoidz is an article community where people can ask questions and other people can write articles to answer those questions. Individuals (that includes students) can write an article and conceivably have it viewed by thousands and potentially millions of people. Registration is required to participate in the group. “Even if you don’t write, you could still be a part of the community by asking questions, commenting and reading all the knowledge experts have to share with you.”

I found the site quite fascinating and very diverse. You can find articles about parenting, covering a tattoo, baking a tuna casserole, remodeling…just about anything you can imagine! Registration is required to post a factoid article Once a factoid is published online readers can rate the article for usefulness and/or click on a link to email the article to a friend, family member, or teacher. Users can also tweet an article via twitter or save it to a Reddit account. Students could be encouraged to write a factoid article of their own and/or review articles for accuracy, interest, etc. Users can also post questions and look for responses to their questions. The site includes a flagging option in the event that an inappropriate article is posted, but there is a chance that an inappropriate article could slip through. Social sites carry some risks, but they also offer educators an opportunity to share and discuss appropriate online etiquette and evaluation of resources.