Web 2.0

Webopedia, an online computer dictionary, defines Web 2.0 as "...the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online." Web 2.0 was the name was coined for the internet to emcompass the new generation of capabilites that had arisen as a result of advanced web 1.0 sites. This new generation of internet was made up of new type of applications and sites coming out that meant that users where able to interact with the internet and in doing so enabling it to expand beyond pervious restrictions of Web 1.0.

The best definition of Web 2.0 that I have found whilst I have trawled the web for information would have to be the following quote because it articulates exactly what Web 2.0 means.

Web 2.0 refers to technologies that allow data to become independent of the person who produced it or the site it originated on. It deals with how information can be broken up into units that flow freely from one site to another, often in ways the producer did not foresee or intend.

Robin Good - Kevin C. Borgia

Characteristics (with a few examples thrown in as well) of Web 2.0 include:

• Blogs - and other services available that allow the user to create a site and upload news, data and so on.
• Hyper linking - by this I mean, in content changeable sites such as blogs or personal websites, where the user might add a link. The another person would read it and add the link else where, thus creating a web that links multiple websites together that is continuously expanding.
• Wikipedia type websites - that allow the input of information by the general public (or at least professionals in the area of the topic being discussed). This means that knowledge can come from a larger variety of sources, but there is no guarantee that it is as accurate as it could possibly be as it relies on a great deal of trust that it will not be misused.
• Tagging - the ability to give a "post" or whatever the selected item is a category, which is then used for searches performed on the website or browsing, linking together the posts that have been tagged the same.
  
• User driven, 'most popular' functions or displays. Eg. When on a website and browsing at an item, sometimes the website will list what other shoppers had bought. Or, for example, on Amazon where they offer a top ten of what their users are buying. These sorts of displays make the website more interactive as they are driven by what the majority of users are most interested in and, chances are, will be of interest to any who visit the website as it would change on a regular basis.

A lot of the information that this blog post was based on came from O'Reilly's and part of my definition of Web 2.0 was based on the defination that i found on Webopedia.