Before I start concentrating on any one subject, I would like to provide a succinct definition of the 'Web 2.0' I've been hearing so much about, drawing heavily from Tim O'Reilly's definitive article 'What is Web 2.0.' O'Reilly actually coined the term - google it, and you'll get more than 9.5 million results. Crazy to me, considering that before this unit, I hadn't thought at all about the growth and development of the Internet, the 'next generation' of the Web. I'm completely immersed in Internet culture, and this had all been happening around me without my realising it.
There is a wealth of information on Web 2.0, and people from all around the world are willing to offer up their opinions on it. They can, on a global platform, within the Web 2.0 framework. One thing I like about the Internet is its use as an open forum for discussion and debate. I like being exposed to the opinion of the interested layperson. There are 166 comments, for example, on 'What is Web 2.0.' Several people provided their definitions for Web 2.0, one I particularly liked, and which I'll adopt for the use of this post, coming from user dejudicbus:
'Web 2.0 is a knowledge oriented environment where human interactions generate content that are published, managed and used through network applications in a service oriented architecture.'
This diagram clearly demonstrates the main differences between Web 2.0 and its unpopular cousin, Web 1.0. Obviously, it demonstrates that in the space of ten years the amount of users of the Web has leaped from 45 million to over a billion global users - amazing, considering that my mother remembers people talking about this newfangled 'Internet thing,' and how it would never take off. Mainly, the diagram makes clear what I think is the most important feature of Web 2.0; the amount of user generated content as opposed to published content, leading to greater collective intelligence - the 'knowledge orientated environment' dejudicbus mentioned.
The differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 are shown in this succinct comparison presented by O'Reilly:
Web 1.0 was about reading, Web 2.0 is about writing
Web 1.0 was about companies, Web 2.0 is about communities
Web 1.0 was about client server, Web 2.0 is about peer to peer
Web 1.0 was about HTML, Web 2.0 is about XML
Web 1.0 was home pages, Web 2.0 is about blogs
Web 1.0 was about portals, Web 2.0 is about RSS
Web 1.0 was about taxonomy, Web 2.0 is about tags
Web 1.0 was about owning, Web 2.0 is about sharing
Web 1.0 was about IPOS, Web 2.0 is about trade sales
Web 1.0 was about Netscape, Web 2.0 is about google
Web 1.0 was about web forms, Web 2.0 is about web applications
Web 1.0 was about screen scraping, Web 2.0 is about APIs
Web 1.0 was about dialup, Web 2.0 is about broadband
Web 1.0 was about wires, Web 2.0 is about wireless
Web 1.0 was about hardware costs, Web 2.0 is about bandwith costs
User Jordan also adds that
Web 1.0 was about them, Web 2.0 is about us.
I like that!
Additionally, this Web 2.0 directory lists sites that are on the 2.0 platform. Lots of interesting stuff!
EDIT:
I've just started to grasp the concept of Web 2.0, and the possibilities of Web 3.0 are already starting to be explored! This comprehensive article by Jonathon Strickland, 'How Web 3.0 Will Work' was recently made popular on Digg, and is well worth a read, as is Resourceful Idiot's recent article, 'Explaining Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0.'
References (accessed May 1):
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