A survey on the Web 2.0 tools usage by Information Science students from the Federal University of Santa Catarina

Abstract

During the last decades, it has been noticed quite a lot of changes in social relations and communication systems, which have made information flows move faster through the Internet resources. In this context, the concept of Web 2.0 (collaborative Web) comes up proposing new ways of collaborating, interacting and participating, which enable huge amounts of information to be managed by networked organizations. This work addresses the use of collaborative Web tools by the students of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Information Science Department. This work's specific objectives aim to describe the profile of UFSC students as users of Web 2.0 tools, by identifying their subjects of interest, and by indicating the most used tools, along with the motivation for using the social networks Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We could conclude that there is a great potential for the exchange of information and dissemination of knowledge through Web technologies. Finally, we could find out that Web tools are seen by the research subjects as being extremely useful, not only for personal and relationship purposes, but also for academic and professional interests as well.