Web 2.0: The Next Step in the Evolution of the Web
By Annie Yu
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The way that the Web is being used nowadays has
changed tremendously over the years. Instead of merely browsing
the Internet, people are now participating and jointly creating
and publishing content. In other words, while initially content
was mostly "read" from the Web, content is now more
and more "written" to the Web through blogs, wikis,
communities, tagging and so on. This is why some people refer
Web 2.0 as "read/write Web". A new wave of jargons,
brands and Web experiences has thus emerged: MySpace,
Google Maps,
Gmail,
FaceBook,
Wikipedia,
Flickr.com,
del.icio.us
(social bookmarking), Twitter, YouTube,
Mashups, Blogs, and RSS
Newsfeeds, just to name a few.
So what does Web 2.0 really mean and what impact does it have
on us? The term Web 2.0 is not easily definable. In fact, there
had been quite a few open discussions and dispute regarding its
definition. Some say Web 2.0 is a perceived second generation
of web-based communities and hosted services. Others refer it
as a platform i.e. a shared infrastructure and standards such
as RSS, XML, AJAX, API's, structured microcontent, read/write
web tools like blogging and podcasting, web services, etc., on
top of which people can build communities, collaboration, communication
and commerce. However, others argue that the term means something
different. As the Birmingham Post put it in December
2005, "Typically, a Web 2.0 service is one that uses the
very latest technologies to provide a website that works more
like an application on your desktop." And others suggest
it can include the idea of taking various sources of Web information
and mixing them to make a new interactive service, for which the
term mash-up (e.g. http://www.netvibes.com/)
has been originated in the music industry. Perhaps a good way
of explaining what Web 2.0 means is to illustrate this concept
in the form of a diagram made by aYsoon
Blog.
As compared with Web 1.0 which was mostly comprised of static HTML pages, Web 2.0 has much richer "content" shared over the Web, establishing a much stronger user participation and interaction (often referred to as "Collection Intelligence") that includes RSS Feeds and the use of social networking sites. Probably the most popular among the latter is MySpace, a Web site that let people create profiles about themselves, embed music, share videos with other friends and post photos, messages and updates about their daily lives. Other social networking sites include Facebook, geared to college students, LinkedIn, aimed at professionals, and Xanga, a blog-based community site.
Below is a reduced version of a table demonstrating advancements
from 1.0 to 2.0 (O'Reilly,
2006)
Web 1.0 |
|
Web 2.0 |
DoubleClick |
→ |
Google AdSense |
Ofoto |
→ |
Flickr |
Content management |
→ |
wikis |
systems |
|
|
Britannica Online |
→ |
Wikipedia |
Personal websites |
→ |
Blogging (Myspace) |
Taxonomy |
→ |
Tagging |
Publishing |
→ |
Participation (youtube) |
Needless to say, Web 2.0 is all about openness and sharing and the demand for "user-generated content" has never been greater. Successful examples that demonstrate the Web 2.0 concepts are:
- Google: Probably the most successful company utilizing Web 2.0 concepts. Google learns from user's links to web sites, as well as user search behavior, and uses that to deliver better search results. That's typically Web 2.0, even though the users are not conscious that they are "contributing" to Google. In addition, numerous Google services are accessible via Web services.
- Amazon: A mega-large online bookseller. Amazon revolutionized book selling in the sense that it had a strong connection to and involvement with its user base or customers by enabling them to write reviews on its books and other products. It also lists related buyer recommendations with each of its online merchandise. "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought," is the label familiar to many readers. In addition, Amazon has developed their database of book information to the point where other sites utilize it. Its data is accessible via public Web services.
- eBay: No site provides a better demonstration of user involvement than eBay. It grows organically with user (buyers and sellers) activity, and the various features of eBay are available via public Web services.
- Wikipedia: This site is the ultimate example
of online collaboration. With more than one million entries,
Wikipedia is the largest encyclopedia on the Internet. It is
a mega-wiki
site that allows anyone on the Internet to edit the content
published on it. It relies on a great deal of trust but the
idea is that with so many people providing input on the topics,
the data will remain correct and up to date.
- Blogging: Another great example of collaboration
and placing content creation in the hands of the user. Basically
a blog is an online personal record that is being updated on
an ad hoc or a regular basis with new entries appearing at the
top of the list and old entries can be viewed from an archive.
In other words, anyone with an Internet connection will be able
to start their own global publication. RSS has increased the
demand of blogs because they allow users to subscribe to other
people’s blogs so that they can be notified when new entries
are added. Nokia has produced software called "Live Blog"
which enables users to publish blog entries whilst on the move
using a mobile phone; it can also make use of the phone cameras
to add videos and images to their blogs.
- An example of a technology or approach to come out of the
Web 2.0 is AJAX,
a scripting technique that enables page content to be updated
without the need for the entire page to be loaded. It can be
very powerful when combined with technologies such as RSS to
produce live content on a website. Its main functionality stems
from an exploitation of XMLHttpRequest, a JavaScript class (with
specific properties and methods) supported by Internet Explorer,
Firefox, and other modern browsers. The fact that the browsers
that support it have become more common makes AJAX a popular
way of developing powerful Web applications over the years.
A well known example is Google’s Gmail
mail client which uses AJAX to make a fast-responding email
application i.e. you can delete messages and perform other tasks
without waiting for a new page to load. Google
Earth and Google
Maps are other examples of successful AJAX implementation.
The above listed sample applications and technology are just
a sampling of what is currently available, but it does provide
an idea of what is expected from the next generation of websites.
Conclusion
Web 2.0 is not an individual technology but instead is a set
of principles that represents the next step in the evolution of
the World Wide Web. Whether it is referred to as "Web 2.0"or
not, Web applications and services will continue to develop in
the age of rapid technological advance we are currently in and
become more and more user orientated. Despite its popularity and
usefulness, like all new technologies, Web 2.0 has added another
dimension of security risks. We will cover the other side of the
story in the coming issue. Stay tuned!
References
- What is Web 2.0? (Tim O'Reilly)
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
- Web 2.0 Resources on TechRepublic
http://search.techrepublic.com.com/search/Web+2.0.html
- Unleashing Web 2.0 : from concepts to creativity (Gottfried Vossen)
- PC Pro: Features – Web 2.0
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/100742/web-20.html?searchString=web+2+0
