PLA 59: Change at hand: Web 2.0 for development

This edition of Participatory Learning and Action looks at the emerging digital applications and web services that encourage users to collaborate and interact online. These are collectively known as Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 tools and approaches are radically changing the ways we create, collaborate and publish digital information. Participatory Web 2.0 for development – or Web2forDev for short – is a way of employing web services to improve online collaboration for development.

This special issue shares learning and reflections from practice and considers the ways forward for using Web 2.0 for development:

• Part I introduces both Web 2.0 tools and the concept of Web2forDev.
• Part II examines some uses of specific Web 2.0 tools for development purposes.
• Part III focuses on the integration of multiple Web 2.0 tools to address specific issues.
• Part IV discusses theory and reflections on practice, including lessons learnt, challenges and ways forward.
• Part V Tips for trainers provides a collection of short introductions to Web 2.0 tools.

Most of the themed articles are based on presentations made at the Web2forDev conference, in September 2007 at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy. The conference was the first international event focusing specifically on how Web 2.0 tools could be used to the advantage of Southern development stakeholders operating in the sectors of agriculture, rural development and natural resource management.