Posting #1 Web 2.0

I was in a conversation today with some colleagues. Some of us were talking about the old days of the web. I mean the really old days where you had to dial into a mainframe and then gopher, Veronica or Archie to other computers. Those terms are as dead as the dinosaurs now and about as fondly remembered. We are now in an era called Web 2.0. A time where collaboration and user defined content is taking over the web. Many are calling Web 2.0 a revolutionary tool as it is changing everything from business to education to family relationships. I think Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media really explains it well in this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQibri7gpLM&feature=player_embedded

Bhatt, K (2007, May 21) Tim O'Reilly on What is Web 2.0? [Video File] . Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQibri7gpLM

Let that soak in a minute; users add value and creating tools or applications that get better the more people use them. This is a surprise? Why has it taken the web this long to figure this out? Can you imagine anyone creating a shopping center with the belief that only certain people should be allowed in, or a school that has no projects, student groups or working together? Yet this is where the web largely was for the last several years. Large corporations putting massive content on the web and others soon follow so that it became diluted and common. Web 2.0 has changed that picture it is now us, the citizen of the web, that are determining the content, are working together using collaborative tools and are redefining communication through social networking.

I love how Stephen Fry explains Web 2.0. If you don’t know who Stephen Fry is, let me explain. He is half of the comedy team of Fry and Laurie (yes Hugh Laurie of House), he is also a dramatic actor and fantastic writer of novels, poetry and documentaries. He is also a great fan of Web 2.0. His point at the end where he points out that due to the rise of web technology the concept of “missing a moment” is gone forever. He was talking about missing a show on TV, but it applies to so many other facets of life. You don’t have to miss a meeting due to travel costs, you don’t have to miss a child’s first words and yes, you don’t have to miss that amazing double play at yesterday’s baseball game. All of this because we have found a way to upload, post and share these moments with people who are like-minded.

http://www.videojug.com/interview/stephen-fry-web-20

Understanding The Internet:
Stephen Fry: Web 2.0

Fry, S (2007, May 31) Stephen Fry: Web 2.0 [Video File]. Video posted to http://www.videojug.com/interview/stephen-fry-web-20

With the Web 2.0 revolution just beginning to hit its peak, many people are beginning to speculate what the next generation of web technology will look like. It depends on whom you read or watch because the next phase of the web is either being called Web 3.0 or Web Squared. Personally I like the web squared term as it connotes a mathematical change in the content of the web and not that the web has been redesigned. The one site that I have been reading is that of Don Hinchcliffe , who writes the Social Computing Journal. In his latest post Don shows what he thinks Web Squared will look like. It is much the same as Web 2.0, but as Don puts it, “With the knobs turned up” (2009). The chart on the post I think sums up his point the best. It shows that data that is input from users will have their own branches and streams where they are just straight lines now. This is an exciting prospect for the future, as no matter where we jump into the web we will have many more options to go and communicate.

This type of speculation may be a bit ahead of itself, as we still need to better define and refine Web 2.0 before moving to the next level. How many times have we seen on the news the scenes of young people filming fights or other random violence just so they could post it on the web? According to a New York Times (2007) article sites like You Tube are flooded with these types of films. It seems that before we move to the next level we need to make sure that the issues and concerns that are created with the predecessor are discussed and controlled, otherwise we may just make the monster bigger. Of course, others may say that that is not needed, as there is always a lag between new technology and reasonable action. I guess we will see, the next generation of web apps should be here soon.

References

Hinchcliffe, D. (2009, June 26). The Evolving Web In 2009: Web Squared Emerges To Refine Web 2.0. Retrieved August 4, 2009, from Social Computing Journal Web Site: http://web2.socialcomputingjournal.com/

Killgannon, C. (2007, Feburary 13). Teenagers misbehaving, for all online to watch. The New York Times. Retrieved August 4, 2009 from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/nyregion/13video.html?_r=1#