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One thing is for sure. If you have heard the
phrase ‘Web 2.0’ but have no clear idea of
its meaning then you are in good company. In
fact, speaking to just a small number of IT
experts will soon reveal that this
expression can mean different things to
different people.
No upgrade required
It sounds like a software application.
Talking about Web 2.0 certainly begs the
question “what exactly was Web 1.0?” but
this is not an upgraded version of the World
Wide Web and, more importantly, there is no
new hardware specification required to use
it. Instead Web 2.0 is chiefly concerned
with the ways in which software developers
are using the Internet - in particular the
growing trend for information sharing and
online communities.
Coining the phrase
The origin of the phrase is widely
attributed to Dale Dougherty, co-founder of
O’Reilly Media, who was looking for a way to
describe the perceived second generation of
Web usage which seemed to be resurgent in
2004-2005 following the bursting of the
dot-com bubble in late 2001.
Like many concepts, Web 2.0 has no fixed
boundaries. For some, it is more an attitude
than a technology and to others it is a set
of guiding principles and practices that
unite a solar system of different sites, all
of which exhibit aspects of these principles
to a greater or larger extent. So yes, you
can be forgiven any confusion.
Web 2.0 principles at work
Typing ‘Web 2.0’ into Wikipedia (itself a
product of Web 2.0) will bring up references
to the principles of facilitating
communication, information sharing,
interoperability, and collaboration. In
recent years, it is these ideas that have
driven the evolution of social-networking
sites, web-based communities, blogs and
video-sharing sites – the very applications
that best characterise Web 2.0 technology.
For more information on Web 2.0, simply type
the phrase into Google and read some (or
all) of the 589 million results that are
displayed. We told you everyone was talking
about it!
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