Technology in the Internet - Web 2.0!

Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004,[1] refers to a perceived second-generation of Web based communities and hosted services — such as social networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — that facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. O'Reilly Media titled a series of conferences around the phrase, and it has since become widely adopted.
Though the term suggests a new version of the Web, it does not refer to an update to Internet or World Wide Web technical specifications, but to changes in the ways the platform is used. 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." [2]
Some technology experts, notably Tim Berners-Lee, have questioned whether the term is meaningful, since many of the technology components of "Web 2.0" have been present since the creation of the World Wide Web.[3]

Introduction
Alluding to the version-numbers that commonly designate software upgrades, the phrase "Web 2.0" hints at an improved form of the World Wide Web; advocates suggest that technologies such as weblogs, social bookmarking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds (and other forms of many-to-many publishing), social software, Web APIs, Web standards and online Web services imply a significant change in web usage.
As used by its proponents, the phrase "Web 2.0" can also refer to one or more of the following:
The transition of Web sites from isolated information silos to sources of content and functionality, thus becoming computing platforms serving web applications to end-users
A social phenomenon embracing an approach to generating and distributing Web content itself, characterized by open communication, decentralization of authority, freedom to share and re-use, and "the market as a conversation"
Enhanced organization and categorization of content, emphasizing deep linking
A rise in the economic value of the Web, possibly surpassing the impact of the dot-com boom of the late 1990s
Earlier users of the phrase "Web 2.0" employed it as a synonym for "Semantic Web," and indeed, the two concepts complement each other. 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.[citation needed]
According to Tim O'Reilly, Web 2.0 is about business embracing the web as a platform and utilising its strengths (global audiences, for example). O'Reilly considers that Eric Schmidt's abridged definition, don't fight the internet, encompasses what Web 2.0 is about - building applications and services around the unique features of the Internet, as opposed to building applications and expecting the Internet to suit as a platform - effectively fighting the internet.
In the opening talk of the first Web 2.0 conference, Tim O'Reilly and John Battelle summarized key principles of Web 2.0 applications:
The web as a platform
Data as the driving force
Network effects created by an architecture of participation
Innovation in assembly of systems and sites composed by pulling together features from distributed, independent developers (a kind of "open source" development)
Lightweight business models enabled by content and service syndication
The end of the software adoption cycle ("the perpetual beta")
Software above the level of a single device, leveraging the power of The Long Tail.
Easy to pick up by early adopters
Tim O'Reilly gave examples of companies or products that embody these principles in his description of his "four plus one" levels in the hierarchy of Web 2.0-ness:[5]
Level 3 applications, the most "Web 2.0," which could only exist on the Internet, deriving their power from the human connections and network effects that Web 2.0 makes possible, and growing in effectiveness the more people use them. O'Reilly gives as examples: eBay, craigslist, Wikipedia, del.icio.us, Skype, dodgeball, WorkACE and Adsense.
Level 2 applications, which can operate offline but which gain advantages from going online. O'Reilly cited Flickr, which benefits from its shared photo-database and from its community-generated tag database.
Level 1 applications, also available offline but which gain features online. O'Reilly pointed to Writely (since 10 October 2006: Google Docs & Spreadsheets, offering group-editing capability online) and iTunes (because of its music-store portion).
Level 0 applications would work as well offline. O'Reilly gave the examples of MapQuest, Yahoo! Local, and Google Maps. Mapping applications using contributions from users to advantage can rank as level 2.
Non-web applications like email, instant-messaging clients and the telephone.

Characteristics of "Web 2.0"
While interested parties continue to debate the definition of a Web 2.0 application, a Web 2.0 web-site may exhibit some basic characteristics. These might include:
"Network as platform" — delivering (and allowing users to use) applications entirely through a browser.[6] See also Web operating system.
Users owning the data on the site and exercising control over that data.[7][6]
An architecture of participation and democracy that encourages users to add value to the application as they use it.[6][1] This stands in sharp contrast to hierarchical access control in applications, in which systems categorize users into roles with varying levels of functionality.
A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface based on Ajax[6][1] or similar frameworks.
Some social-networking aspects.[7][6]
The impossibility of excluding group-members who don’t contribute to the provision of goods from sharing profits gives rise to the possibility that rational members will prefer to withhold their contribution of effort and free-ride on the contribution of others.[8][9]
The concept of Web-as-participation-platform captures many of these characteristics. Bart Decrem, founder and former CEO of Flock, calls Web 2.0 the "participatory Web"[10] and regards Web-as-information-source as Web 1.0.

Technology overview
The complex and evolving technology infrastructure of Web 2.0 includes server-software, content-syndication, messaging-protocols, standards-based browsers with plugins and extensions, and various client-applications. These differing but complementary approaches provide Web 2.0 with information-storage, creation, and dissemination capabilities that go beyond what the public formerly expected of web-sites.
A Web 2.0 website may typically feature a number of the following techniques:
Rich Internet application techniques, optionally Ajax-based
CSS
Semantically valid XHTML markup and the use of Microformats
Syndication and aggregation of data in RSS/Atom
Clean and meaningful URLs
Extensive use of folksonomies (in the form of tags or tagclouds, for example)
Use of wiki software either completely or partially (where partial use may grow to become the complete platform for the site)
Use of Open source software either completely or partially, such as the LAMP solution stack
Weblog publishing
Mashups
REST or XML Webservice APIs

Innovations associated with "Web 2.0"

Web-based applications and desktops
The richer user-experience afforded by Ajax has prompted the development of web-sites that mimic personal computer applications, such as word processing, the spreadsheet, and slide-show presentation. WYSIWYG wiki sites replicate many features of PC authoring applications. Still other sites perform collaboration and project management functions. Google, Inc. acquired one of the best-known sites of this broad class, Writely.
Several browser-based "operating systems" or "online desktops" have also appeared. They essentially function as application platforms, not as operating systems per se. These services mimic the user experience of desktop operating-systems, offering features and applications similar to a PC environment. They have as their distinguishing characteristic the ability to run within any modern browser.
Numerous web based application services appeared during the dot-com bubble of 1997–2001 and then vanished, having failed to gain a critical mass of customers. In 2005 WebEx acquired one of the better-known of these, Intranets.com, for slightly more than the total it had raised in venture capital after six years of trading.

Rich Internet applications
Main article: Rich Internet application
Recently, rich-Internet application techniques such as Ajax, Adobe Flash, Flex, Nexaweb and OpenLaszlo have evolved that can improve the user-experience in browser-based applications. These technologies allow a web-page to request an update for some part of its content, and to alter that part in the browser, without needing to refresh the whole page at the same time.

Server-side software
The functionality of Web 2.0 builds on the existing Web server architecture, but puts much greater emphasis on back-end software. Syndication differs only nominally from the methods of publishing using dynamic content management, but web services typically require much more robust database and workflow support, and become very similar to the traditional intranet functionality of an application server. Vendor approaches to date fall under either a universal server approach, which bundles most of the necessary functionality in a single server platform, or a web-server plugin approach, which uses standard publishing tools enhanced with API interfaces and other tools.

Client-side software
The extra functionality provided by Web 2.0 depends on the ability of users to work with the data stored on servers. This can come about through forms in an HTML page, through a scripting language such as Javascript, or through Flash or Java. These methods all make use of the client computer to reduce the server workloads and increase the responsiveness of the application.

RSS
Syndication of site content is considered a Web 2.0 feature, involving standardized protocols which permit end-users to make use of a site's data in another context, ranging from another web-site, to a browser plugin, or to a separate desktop application. Protocols which permit syndication include RSS (Really Simple Syndication — also known as "web syndication"), RDF (as in RSS 1.1), and Atom, all of them XML-based formats. Specialized protocols such as FOAF and XFN (both for social networking) extend the functionality of sites or permit end-users to interact without centralized web-sites. (See microformats for more specialized data formats.)

Web protocols
Web communication protocols provide a key element of the Web 2.0 infrastructure. Major protocols include REST and SOAP.
REST (Representational State Transfer) indicates a way to access and manipulate data on a server using the HTTP verbs GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE
SOAP involves POSTing XML messages and requests to a server that may contain quite complex, but pre-defined, instructions for the server to follow
In both cases, an API defines access to the service. Often servers use proprietary APIs, but standard web-service APIs (for example, for posting to a blog) have also come into wide use. Most (but not all) communications with web services involve some form of XML (eXtensible Markup Language).
See also Web Services Description Language (WSDL) (the standard way of publishing a SOAP API) and the list of web-service specifications for links to many other web-service standards, including those many whose names begin 'WS-'.

Criticism
Given the lack of set standards as to what "Web 2.0" actually means, implies, or requires, the term can mean radically different things to different people.
Many of the ideas of Web 2.0 already featured on networked systems well before the term "Web 2.0" emerged. Amazon.com, for instance, has allowed users to write reviews and consumer guides since its launch in 1995, in a form of self-publishing. Amazon also opened its API to outside developers in 2002.[11] Prior art also comes from research in computer-supported collaborative learning and computer-supported cooperative work and from established products like Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino.
Conversely, when a web-site proclaims itself "Web 2.0" for the use of some trivial feature (such as blogs or gradient-boxes) observers may generally consider it more an attempt at self-promotion than an actual endorsement of the ideas behind Web 2.0. "Web 2.0" in such circumstances has sometimes sunk simply to the status of a marketing buzzword, like "synergy," that can mean whatever a salesperson wants it to mean, with little connection to most of the worthy but (currently) unrelated ideas originally brought together under the "Web 2.0" banner.
The argument also exists that "Web 2.0" does not represent a new version of World Wide Web at all, but merely continues to use "Web 1.0" technologies and concepts. Clearly, techniques such as AJAX are not a replacement for underlying protocols like HTTP but an additional layer of abstraction on top of them.
Other criticism has included the term "a second bubble," (referring to the Dot-com bubble of circa 1995–2001), suggesting that too many Web 2.0 companies attempt to develop the same product with a lack of business models. The Economist has written of "Bubble 2.0."[12]
Venture capitalist Josh Kopelman noted that Web 2.0 excited only 53,651 people (the number of subscribers to TechCrunch, a Weblog covering Web 2.0 matters), too few users to make them an economically-viable target for consumer applications.[13]

Trademark
In November 2003, CMP Media applied to the USPTO for a service mark on the use of the term "WEB 2.0" for live events.[14] On the basis of this application, CMP Media sent a cease-and-desist demand to the Irish non-profit organization IT@Cork on May 24, 2006,[15] but retracted it two days later.[16] The "WEB 2.0" service mark registration passed final PTO Examining Attorney review on May 10, 2006, but as of June 12, 2006 the PTO had not published the mark for opposition. The European Union application (which would confer unambiguous status in Ireland) remains pending (app no 004972212) after its filing on March 23, 2006.

See also
Collaborative learning
Collaborative Networked Learning
Collaborative learning-work
Comparison of accounting software
Comparison of e-mail clients
Comparison of office suites
List of online spreadsheets
Crowdsourcing
Enterprise 2.0
Learning 2.0
Library 2.0
List of office suites
List of personal information managers
Mashups
Media Studies 2.0
Mobile office
Office 2.0
Office Suite
Photo sharing
Service-oriented architecture
Social bookmarking
Social computing
Telecommuting
Travel 2.0
Web operating system
Wikipedia
Web 3.0
Web desktop

References
a b c Paul Graham (November 2005). Web 2.0. Retrieved on 2006-08-02.
Tim O'Reilly (2006-12-10). Web 2.0 Compact Definition: Trying Again. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
developerWorks Interviews: Tim Berners-Lee (7-28-2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
Jürgen Schiller García (2006-09-21). Web 2.0 Buzz Time bar. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
Tim O'Reilly (2006-07-17). Levels of the Game: The Hierarchy of Web 2.0 Applications. O'Reilly radar. Retrieved on 2006-08-08.
a b c d e Tim O'Reilly (2005-09-30). What Is Web 2.0. O'Reilly Network. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
a b Dion Hinchcliffe (2006-04-02). The State of Web 2.0. Web Services Journal. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
Marwell and Ames, 1979 http://www.jstor.org/view/00029602/dm992648/99p05365/0
"Free riding is taking place at web 2.0": http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/?p=1
Bart Decrem (2006-06-13). Introducing Flock Beta 1. Flock official blog. Retrieved on 2007-01-13.
Tim O'Reilly (2002-06-18). Amazon Web Services API. O'Reilly Network. Retrieved on 2006-05-27.
Bubble 2.0. The Economist (2005-12-22). Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
Josh Kopelman (2006-05-11). 53,651. Redeye VC. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
USPTO serial number 78322306
O'Reilly and CMP Exercise Trademark on 'Web 2.0'. Slashdot (2006-05-26). Retrieved on 2006-05-27.
Nathan Torkington (2006-05-26). O'Reilly's coverage of Web 2.0 as a service mark. O'Reilly Radar. Retrieved on 2006-06-01.

External links

Supportive
Dan McLean (2007-01-25). The online viral advertising era has arrived. PCWorld.ca. Retrieved on 2007-02-27.
Steve Anderson (2007-03-04). Independent Media Goes Web 2.0. COA News. Retrieved on 2007-04-4.
Dan McLean (2007-01-25). The new web: Rewards and risks for businesses. PCWorld.ca. Retrieved on 2007-02-27.
Adario Strange (2006-12-13). Media Threat. New York Press. Retrieved on 2006-12-22.
Martin LaMonica (2006-03-14). Google deal highlights Web 2.0 boom. CNET. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
Paul Graham (November 2005). Web 2.0. Retrieved on 2006-08-02.
Tim O'Reilly (2005-09-30). What Is Web 2.0. O'Reilly Network. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
Kevin Kelly (August 2005). We Are the Web. Wired Magazine. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
Richard MacManus and Joshua Porter (2005-05-04). Web 2.0 for Designers. Digital Web Magazine. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
Unica, Forrester Research and American Marketing Association (2007-01-18). Web 2.0 - Measuring Social Engagement. SCL Analytics. Retrieved on 2007-01-18.

Critical
Nate Anderson (2006-09-01). Tim Berners-Lee on Web 2.0: "nobody even knows what it means". Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
The Enzyme that Won. The Economist (2006-05-11). Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka (2007-01-11). The Hogosphere: "Web 2.0: No Thanks, I'm Holding Out for Web 3.0". Something Awful. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
Paul Boutin (2006-03-29). The new Internet "boom" doesn't live up to its name. Slate.com. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
Russell Shaw (2005-12-17). Web 2.0? It doesn't exist. ZDNet. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
Andrew Orlowski (2005-10-21). Web 2.0: It's … like your brain on LSD!. The Register. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
Nicholas G. Carr (2005-10-03). The amorality of Web 2.0. Retrieved on 2006-08-06.
Paul Anderson (2007-02-27). What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education. Retrieved on 2007-03-15.