Module 1: Web 2.0, Social networking and the social life of information

NOTES

Web 2.0
• New generation of web technologies
• Easier to use the web - publish, interact, share
• Functionality - interaction (collaborative/participative)

Some of definitions of Web 2.0:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
• Websites that use technology beyond static pages of earlier websites
• interaction and collaboration
• social media dialogue
• User generated content
• virtual community
http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html
• The web as platform
 No hard boundary but gravitational core
 Visualize Web 2.0 as set of principles/practices that tie together solar system of sites that demonstrate principles at a varying distance from core.
 First of principles is - web as platform • Harnessing collective intelligence
 Hyperlinking - foundation of the web
 Core of Yahoo's value - role as a portal to the collective work of its net users
 Innovative companies pick up on insight and extend it
 Folksonomy - style of collaborative categorization of sites using tags
 Network effects from user contributions are the key to market dominance in Web 2.0
• Blogging and wisdom of crowds
 Chronological organization of a blog drives a different delivery, advertising and value chain
 RSS - most significant advance in fundamental architecture of the web
 "Dynamic Websites" - not just pages but also links
 Significance of permalinks - overlapping communities
 Search engines use link structure to help predict useful pages
 Bloggers - prolific/timely linkers
• Data is the next Intel inside
 Who owns the data?
 Database management is core competency of Web 2.0 companies
 The race is on to own certain classes of core data
• End of the software release cycle
 One of defining characteristic of internet era software - delivered as a service, not a product
 Operations must become a core competency
 Users must be treated as co-developers
• Lightweight programming models
 Simplicity better than complexity
 Think syndication, not co-ordination
 Innovation in assembly
• Software above the level of a single device
 Web 2.0 - not limited to PC platform
 ITunes best example of this principal
• Rich User experiences
 Applets & other kind of active content
 several technologies coming together in powerful new ways
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BAXvFdMBWw&feature=relate
• Making new improved forms on online connections between two or more people, between two or more online services, or between individual users and software applications.
• Key aspects of web 2.0: interpersonal computing, web services, software as a service.
• Interpersonal computing - wikis/blogs/video hosts etc. eg:facebook, youtube. Allow anyone to add and access content, leave comments, and exchange digital media.
• Web Services - components of online functionality fused together - mashup - on the one website. (Webpage drawing content from 2 or more sources).
• Software as a service - application functionality being offered directly over the internet. Online replacements for personal desktop applications, eg google docs, zoho, juice.
• Web 2.0 implications - will change the ways many companies link together, as well as the way we access our data and software applications. Purchase of expensive external software will reduce substantially and will impact on existing key industry players like Microsoft. But how robust is this new web 2.0 business model?
• Web 2.0 Strategy - many companies will need to alter their online strategy. Companies need to inhabit where consumers are expected to be (ie facebook), rather than waiting for them to find them. Needs to become a key online strategy.

Based on my reading and viewing of these definitions, Web 2.0 is a lot more than just an interactive, collaborative tool.  Web 2.0 represents increased connections between people, websites, software, and data. These things are no longer separate entities with precarious connections. Web 2.0 is a tightly bound "mash up" of these things.