What is…
WEB 2.0?
A Little History…
 The term “Web 2.0” was familiarized when
Tim O’Reilly hosted the first Web 2.0
conference in 2004
 This Link (a characteristic of Web 2.0)
includes some footage of the conference
So what is it?
 Web 2.0 isn’t a thing, it’s a state of mind.
 It’s also a Buzzword, but Buzzwords have
their uses:
 Good for non-technical people
 Eases communication
 A good way to promote a group of technologies
Web 2.0 also…
 Provides a service, not a product (infoware
not software)
 Encourages user contribution (reviews,
comments)
 Makes it easy to re-use and re-mix
 Provides community and sense of ownership
as well as customer self-service
So what is it…really?
 Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that
encourage interactive information sharing.
 Web 2.0 sites provide their users with
dissemination capabilities, information storage
and creation
 In a nutshell, Web 2.0 allows users to do more
than just retrieve the information or message.
Document Delivery vs Platforms
 The web is changing from a document
delivery system to an application platform
 The Web as a platform:
 Simplifies distribution
 Easy way of maintaining code
 Faster speed to market
 Share data across devices
So, what’s the difference?
 Web 1.0 refers to former business models
(Encyclopedia Britannica) which was one way
communication
 Web 2.0 offers two way communication
between users and businesses and users can
often build your business (Twitter and
WordPress)
So, what’s the difference
again?
 O’Reilly compared Web 1.0 to Google which is
now a business and not so based on the
creation of software (browsers) but instead
provides services based on data (users)
 Instead of just having users receive
information, they can build upon it
(Wikipedia)
O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 vs Web 1.0 example
Web 1.0
Web 2.0
DoubleClick
Google AdSense
Ofoto
Flickr
Akamai
BitTorrent
Mp3.com
Napster
Britannica Online
Wikipedia
Personal Websites
Blogging
Evite
Upcoming.org
Domain name speculation
Search engine optimization
Page views
Cost per click
Publishing
Participation
CMS (Content Management Systems)
Wikis
Directories
Tagging
Stickiness
Syndication
Characteristics of Web 2.0
 Rich User Experience (interaction)
 User Participation (input)
 Dynamic Content (many authors, not just
one)
 Metadata (clarification)
 Web standards and scalability (google
analytics)
 Participation (output)
How do I know it’s Web 2.0?
 Web 2.0 sites typically include some, if not all,
of the following features:
 Search (finding info through keywords)
 Links (guides to related info)
 Authoring (the ability to create and update =
collaborative work)
 Tags (filtering by words)
 Extensions (web applications = document server)
 Signals (RSS feeds)
Core Competencies of Web 2.0 Companies
 Services, not packaged software, with cost
effective scalability
 Control over unique, hard-to-create data sources
that get richer as more people use them
 Trusting users as co-developers
 Harnessing collective intelligence
 Leveraging the long tail through customer selfservice
 Lightweight user interfaces, development
models, AND business models
Web 2.0 = Ajax
 Ajax is shorthand for asynchronous
JavaScript + XML (say that 3x fast)
 A group of interrelated web development
techniques used on the client-side to create
interactive web applications.
 With Ajax, web applications can retrieve data
from the server without interfering with the
display and behavior of the existing page
The evolution…
 In lay mans terms, this is the present and
future of the World Wide Web.