Web 2.0
I read an excellent article by Tim O’Reilly: What is Web 2.0
He discusses the term web 2.0 and gives it some meaning, though it cannot be cleanly defined. Perhaps you have heard this recent buzzword and are trying to figure out what the hype is about.
The question [of what is web 2.0] is particularly urgent because the Web 2.0 meme has become so widespread that companies are now pasting it on as a marketing buzzword, with no real understanding of just what it means.
Later in the article he makes a very important point.
Like many important concepts, Web 2.0 doesn’t have a hard boundary, but rather, a gravitational core.
What sort of things are at this core? Trust of users, participation, decentralization, usable services, and much more are diagrammed in O’Reilly’s article. Some examples of web 2.0 that he gives is Wikipedia, Flickr, and blogs.
One I might add to the web 2.0 list is iStockphoto which buys and sells stock photography at low prices.
What is web 2.0 in a nutshell? I believe it is simply an emerging mindset of creative people on how to best use and improve the Internet technologies available today.
Data is key. Providing unique information is extremely valuable and central to web 2.0 thinking.
Filed under: business, culture, guidedvision.com, literacy, open source, software on January 19th, 2006
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