Web 2.0

• Web 2.0 is a term that describes the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users. These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.
• “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”.

Characteristics of Web 2.0

• Rich user experience - Dynamic content that is responsive to user input (e.g., a user can "click" on an image to enlarge it or find out more information).
• User participation - Information flows two ways between site owner and site users by means of evaluation, review, and online commenting. Site users also typically create user-generated content for others to see (e.g., Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that anyone can write articles for or edit).
• Software as a service (SaaS) - Web 2.0 sites developed APIs to allow automated usage, such as by a Web "app" (software application) or a mashup.
• Folksonomy - Free classification of information; allows users to collectively classify and find information (e.g. "tagging" of websites, images, videos or links).
• Mass participation – Near-universal web access leads to differentiation of concerns, from the traditional Internet user base (who tended to be hackers and computer hobbyists) to a wider variety of users.
• Openness - The development of more liberal licensees (such copyright licenses such Creative Commons; open sources licenses for software) can allow integration of data and reuse of software without encountering legal barriers.
• Network as a platform - The Web can now be used to provide access to Web applications, and not just informational resources. This allows users to make use of applications without having to go through the cumbersome exercise of installing software on their local PC.
• Focus on the needs of the user, User friendly and Collective intelligence by way of user participation.
• Shift from one‐to‐many publishing model to a many‐to‐many or many‐to‐one model.
• Shift away from the request page/get page/view page technology.
• Provides real-time discussion, Available at any time, any place.
• Dynamic content, Metadata, Web standards and Scalability, Freedom and Data abstraction.

Technology behind Web 2.0

• Web 2.0 is the term used to describe a variety of web sites and applications that allow anyone to create and share online information or material they have created.
• A key element of the technology is that it allows people to create, share, collaborate & communicate.
• Web 2.0 differs from other types of websites as it does not require any web design or publishing skills to participate, making it easy for people to create and publish or communicate their work to the world.
• There are number of different types of web 2.0 applications including wikis, blogs, social networking, folksonomies, podcasting & content hosting services.
• Many of the most popular websites are Web 2.0 sites such as Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr.

Blogs

An early form of Web 2.0, blogs are personalized Web sites that allow bloggers to enter textual entries, images, and hyperlinks, or upload video and other media into an online journal or diary format. Blogs allow readers to post comments or subscribe to a feed, and be notified when new entries are posted. Blog content is typically displayed in reverse chronological order. Web site examples include Blogger.com and Livejournal.com

Wiki

Wikis are Web sites where information is entered, edited and organized by interested parties. These writing spaces allow for a large number of pages; a popular example is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. The sites are very easy to use and interact with, thus are a useful tool for collaborative authoring.

Social networking sites

Social networking sites are personal Web sites that exist within the framework of a larger Web site. Users can form communities by linking up on the sites as friends and forming friend groups.18 Social networking sites typically focus on building online social and professional networks where sharing videos, text, images, and blogs as well as other media can occur. Popular examples include Facebook and MySpace.

Content Hosting Services

It involves making large files available to users on a peer-to-peer network. Sites typically allow users to embed their media into social networking sites, ensuring the site does not function in isolation to other Web 2.0 applications. Recognized sites include Flickr or Fotolog for photo sharing and YouTube for video sharing.

Podcasting

Podcasting is a way of making audio or video files available on the internet that can either be listened to or viewed on a PC or downloaded to a handheld device such as an iPod or mp3 player. A podcast will be treated as a sound recording (audio podcasts) or a film (video podcasts, as known as vodcasts). Podcasts may also include images, including PowerPoint presentations.