Askville, an update of BBS?
Last week, I put my first touch on Askville, a very cool website to ask a question, and to get answers from real people. Askville provides a public platform, with attractive and easy-to-use interface, to “ask the community”. It categories more than thirty main topics, most of which are related to our daily lives.
If Web 2.0 can be defined as “the philosophy of mutually maximizing collective intelligence and added value for each participant by formalized and dynamic information sharing and creation“, Asville is a typical Web 2.0 application. As a “real” actor on the website, you need to be responsible for each and every activity you have taken on Askville. With characteristics of Web 2.0, you are making an impact on the audience when you are just surfing on the internet. Askville “honestly” records all your movements, and then influence your own entity. As is shown in below, I asked three questions and answered three questions last week, with a reward of 26 golds, which measures my participation and contributions.
As a student coming from China, Askville seems to be an advanced version of BBS(Bulletin Board Systems) systems, which are very popular among university students in China. BBS provides a simple and basic bulletin system for user to post information and get feedback, and Askville supports more user interactions and more functionalities. It looks attractive!
Personally, I would prefer university BBS to Askville, even though Askville has more fancy features. One of the most important reasons is that BBS is more University-Student-Oriented. For example, NewSmth is China’s biggest university BBS, and it arranges its boards based on university students’ concerns, such as Academics, Campus, Culture, Entertainment, and SportZone, and so on. Most users of NewSmth are university students, and most board administrators and managers are students. Askville, on the other side, is more “general”. It welcomes all kinds of people. In that sense, it is not a good place for university students to spend too much time on it. According to my personal experience last week, I looked through many questions posted on the website, and a large number of questions did not interest me at all. It was kind of waste of time. However, I did get some useful information by asking questions on Askville. On the “Education” category, I posted a question of “What is a third language to learn?”. Surprisingly, many responses are very good.
Anyway, I will continue to be an active member on BBS as a university student, and I will keep an eye on Askville and other new Web2.0 applications.
By Chen Chen
2008-02-22
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