Tuesday, November 18, 2008

my first blog ever =)


It was our instructor in WebPage Design who suggested us to discuss Web2.0 and create a blog about it. As a requirement to the subject, I was forced to work with my first blog. But to my surprise, I've realized that creating blog is such an interesting activity.

As instructed to us, I've done my research about Web2.0.

What is really meant by Web2.0?


Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites , wikis and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. The term became popular following the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the web. According to Tim O'Reilly, "Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform."
Some technology experts, notably Tim Berners-Lee, have questioned whether one can use the term in a meaningful way, since many of the technology components of "Web 2.0" have existed since the early days of the Web. Simon Fjell created a Web 2.0 site as early as 1994 with the creation of Community Streamwatch. This site allowed school groups monitoring the water quality of waterways in Melbourne (Australia) to share findings to generate whole catchment assessments.

Defining Web 2.0

  • Stephen Fry (actor, author and broadcaster) describes Web 2.0 as "an idea in people’s heads rather than a reality. It’s actually an idea that the reciprocity between the user and the provider is what’s emphasized. In other words, genuine interactivity if you like, simply because people can upload as well as download"
  • The phrase "Web 2.0" can also refer to the transition of Websites from isolated information silos to interlinked computing platforms that act like software to the user. Web 2.0 also includes a social element where users generate and distribute content, often with freedom to share and re-use. The result is a rise in the economic value of the Web as users can do more online.
  • Earlier users of the phrase "Web 2.0" employed it as a synonym for "Semantic Web". The combination of social networking systems such as FOAF and XFN with the development of tag-based folksonomies, delivered through blogs and wikis, sets up a basis for a semantic web environment.

While interested parties continue to debate the definition of a Web 2.0 application, a Web 2.0 website may exhibit some basic common characteristics. These might include:

  • "Network as platform" — delivering (and allowing users to use) applications entirely through a browser.
  • Users owning the data on a site and exercising control over that data.
  • An architecture of participation that encourages users to add value to the application as they use it. This stands in sharp contrast to hierarchical access control in applications, in which systems categorize users into roles with varying degrees of functionality.
  • A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface based on Ajax or similar frameworks.
  • Some social networking aspects.

I've taken these information from wikipedia..

-malyn