Web 2,0 - What's It All About - Assignment Example

1.0 Introduction: The newest tool that has been introduced in the making of World Wide Web technology in terms of web pages and web homes and web design is known as WEB 2.0. The web is made up of pages connected through internet that the users may access and view on their computers and devices. Development of these pages has been widely in a generalised pattern where web sites could only be viewed and had its limitations in terms of interactivity. Users could only view the pages and could not change the way they could relate their life style and requirements to the way each individual page would appear- just for them. Its major function is to facilitate creativity and the way information is reached and perceived through the world wide web to the user, the foremost utility being collaboration among users. This idea has given rise to web-based communities and many hosted services have emerged out of it, such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs and Folksonomy (social tagging). (Solomon & Schrum, 2007). These new developments in the terms of social networking sites are the way the new development in the making of web pages are used to make the internet pages more interactive with people. The idea is to make a web page that will allow users to change the layouts, send instant messages, post offline messages, add pictures, create events and make a story board of their life like a personal diary online which may be shared with people of their common interests. Furthermore, all users involved in these web pages may also look for other people that share the same interests and make communities and groups like a book club as a sub section of these pages. Despite being a new version of the World Wide Web the phrase, however, does not amend anything in technical specifications, it only guides the software developers and end-users to adopt the changes in the ways they use their webs. Many experts in Web technologies may say that computer industry has observed a business revolution in the form of Web 2.0. All the more so as internet has come to be used as the new platform and web 2.0 helps and guides people to successfully work on that platform (Solomon & Schrum, 2007). However, there may be concerns whether Web 2.0 has anything new to offer as many of its contents already exist since the very beginning of the Web. Web 2.0 has been defined by many people. Web 2.0 may be helpful in the to usage of web as a business platform with enlarged facility of communication with the audiences across the globe (Johnson, 2006). Comments: The opening needs to be changed, remember it is like a beginners guide to web 2. Please don’t use complex words like realm, prominent, dissemination, etc, use simple easy words so that reader can understand it understand it. What does “opines” means, I have highlighted in it the paragraph. Need to explain what social-networking sites are. Who are O’REILLY and Tim Berners-Lee? You mentioned but the reader doesn’t know who they are. Never assume nothing, the reader know nothing. You need to compare their views on both writers on web 2 Also the way u writer it some like it from the internet, i.e. “A prominent technology expert Tim Berners-Lee”. I don’t want that please. 2.0) Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0: The view about the major feature of web 2.0 which is construction of applications and services around the exclusive features of the internet as against the regular programs that only build applications and require the internet to assimilate as a platform. Within this framework, user’s participation in the website content builds network effects. Web 2.0 technologies innovative role comes into play as it assembles systems and sites by pulling together features from scattered, individual developers. This way it puts an end to the so-called process perpetual beta, a software adoption cycle. The beta software or program or any other application is such that it has not been finalised by the owner of that application. It is a term used to define an application that has not been released as a final product. Web 2.0 applications are called perpetual beta because most of the development of the application or web page is derived from the users as they perceive to be needs on the use. Therefore, most of the Web 2.0 technologies will not be categorised as final version as they are always going changes either by the developers or the users. Web 2.0 technologies help to create lightweight business models by integrating the content and services of different websites. The average users find very easy to use as they are allowed access to varied features of a website (Johnson, 2006). Web 2.0 vs Web 1.0 The Diagram illustrates the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 . The relational diagram in the form of a circle on the right explains how the Web 1.0 web pages are designed to have a linear relationship between the page and the user and forms a single interactive point where the user may only communicate with the server directly. However, in the case of Web 2.0 technologies, this relationship is extended where the user may also interact and communicate directly with other users as well as the server. (Image Source: Johnson 2006, p.43) (Source: Johnson 2006, p.31) The image above illustrates how Web 2.0 technology is used to make more interactive pages. For Example, an application or event, or page called Bespin may be placed on a web home called cloud city which may be placed as a part of all the works and pages and web homes developed by the author Lando Carlrissian. In Web 1.0, this could not be achieved and users had no option as to categorise the works of a specific author and find related applications that had the same effect. The above difference may further be elaborated by the following comparison between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0: 1. Web 1.0 was mainly about viewing and reading of web pages whereas Web 2.0 has given the opportunity of the same viewers and readers of web pages to write and customize these pages according to their specific needs (Johnson, 2006). A simplest example is the iGoogle search home page- as illustrated below: igoogle home page (www.igoogle.com) The igoogle home page provides users with the ability to customize the entire page according to their needs and choices. The web 2.0 technology enables users to change the background (in this case a world map is used) and add dynamic applications to the home page such as specific weather conditions for a region, The current moon phase, Date and time, Google Talk (an application which enables users to communicate with each other) and games that may be chosen from hundreds of choices available on the page. The page may be customised according to theme and applications that may be added based on individual preferences, whereas in Web 1.0, these options were not available. 2. Web 1.0 was a platform to develop a platform for one way communication form companies and organisations to clients and users whereas Web 2.0 has given rise to make pages for users which are developed and maintained by the users. The oimpact of such developments have made way for new concepts in marketing where now companies are making online groups using Web 2.0 technologies (Carter, 2007). 3. Web 2.0 is more perceptual towards a peer to peer environment- that means that the user can easily interact with not just the website but also with the other users in real time and develop the sites collective for their use. They may share applications and events and photo albums and customise the look and feel of the web page according to their needs along with set the limits as to who can see what type of information on their pages (Carter, 2007). A perfect example of such a development is facebook: www.facebook.com Facebook is the one of the premium example of how users can develop and use internet pages on their own. In the image, the users can either use an existing application developed by another user (such as “auction”) or develop and upload an application on their own. Users may also interact among each other through events, sharing videos and pictures, forming a group and customizing every page according to their choices. This is all due to Web 2.0 technologies that the users can customize everything! 4. With the evolution of Wi-Fi (internet facilities provided without wires) systems and other computer networks, the architecture of internet has been reformed to match the needs of Wireless communication and absences of external storage devices to shift date form one computer to another. Web 2.0 is dormant towards the integration of Wireless compatibilities whereas Web 1.0 was heavily dependent upon wires and need of physically transfer data along with a shift in the user machine (Carter, 2007). 5. The applications that were developed in relation to web 1.0 were very restricted to ownership in terms of development an did not allow users to add to the applications (property centric) and ownerships were defined strictly and access was given to sites on a layered structure. However, the ever growing popularity of sharing information freely and without rights has defines the new applications working under web 2.0. As well as user sites such as YouTube have become the centre of this evolution: (Carter, 2007) www.youtube.com Youtube (as illustrated in the picture), allows users to upload their videos and categorise them accordingly. Tags are used by users uploading and viewing them to further classify them into specific categories. 6. Where Web 1.0 had its limitations in terms of interaction and only has the subsistence to provide basic financial services, Web 2.0 has been tailored to go beyond basic IPO information (public offering of stocks and bonds for the first time in the stock markets)and enable users to do actual and real time stock trading (Miller, 2006). 7. The development of web 1.0 had been structured to run on the performance of the user’s machine. The factors of processing power and RAM (the place of temporary storage of data in a computer processor where applications run and share space- the bigger the application more RAM it would require) had been integral in the development if interaction using Flash and DHTML. Web 2.0 has evolved out of that system to place a burden not on the processing power of the user machine but to level out performance factors on the bandwidth and speed of the Internet (Miller, 2006). Comments: Who are Eric Schmidt’s and John Battelle? What is a long tail and perpetual beta? You need to explain the diagram about “new media and high media” You need to explain what is semantic web works, how it’s related to web2.0 Facebook and YouTube example, please show where is the web 2 and explain how web2 2 works in both sites What is “IPO information” What is RAM 3.0) Technology: 3.1 Perpetual Beta The applications developed for the use of Web 2.0 have a user centric idea that relates to the use of each application as a community. This has forced the application developers to pre-release all applications on the web for usage of users to develop them according to the needs and specifications of the users. As compared to Web 1.0- where web pages were delivered after testing, web 2.0 applications are mainly found in bets stage on the internet. This allows the developers to gather information and feedback from the users and judge the level of excitement they get from the appropriate use of the software (Miller, 2006). Perpetual Beta Product Cycle: (Source: Miller 2006, p.62) The diagram illustrates the process of the perpetual beta process of Web 2.0 applications. The customers access the pages on the web site where some selected users are made eligible to change key features and the rest can change the pages in accordance to the nature of access given to the, the continuous change that is brought by the users makes the applications remain in the beta phase of development. Gmail has been around for the past several years and has been one of the most popular web applications that have evolved into Web 2.0 architecture. Even after its membership has brown to millions of users, it still has the status of the beta application because the updates and developments need rapid stemming as the users grow. This perpetual status of change in response to growing global change for the use of applications has made Gmail and many other applications like it never grow out of the Beta stage (Duval et al, 2007). 3.2 User Effects Web 2.0 applications have been able to survive and excel due to the number of users that use the application. Without the minimum number of users, many applications would fail to deliver their purpose and suffocate no matter how good or bad the idea would be. Wikipedia, for example, would not be the online source of reference for amateur writing if it did not have the number of writers that were working on it (Johnson, 2006). Comments: This section can you please re words the paragraphs as some of lines some like if from the internet. The languages used needs to relate to someone is doesn’t have a clue about web2 4.0) Case Studies example: 4.1 Wikipedia: What It is: The foundation of Wikipedia was laid several years ago and with the passage of time it has grown into the premium application model of web 2.0. In the initial years the problem that was stated by Wikipedia was that it had not attracted enough writers to write on different subject matters that were necessary to build a resource vast enough to gain attention of people. However, over the period of time, it moved over its weakness and today stands as probably a good substitute for instant access to initial research on many different subjects in academia and current affairs (Johnson, 2006). Technology Example Wikipedia stands firm today as a strong web 2.0 application called Wiki. This form of application is based on an easy to use mark up editor that translates any addition, modification, deletion or creation on a page into the page environment. The Wiki application is community centred and its strength is derived from many users being able to change the mark-up of the page without knowing the architecture of the web (Johnson, 2006). Strengths and Weaknesses The articles found in the Wikipedia project are free to use by the users, however, any addition or modification is monitored and needs to go through a verifying process to authenticate the quality of the information. Different levels of writers have different access permissions and one input may override another due to these levels of permissions (Johnson, 2006). Wikipedia is sustained through advertising and sponsorships that allows for development of the articles and other resources found on the pages. The purpose of Wikipedia is to deliver information by users to users without any charge and this has been made successful as information is being constantly revised among the users. This keeps the pages interactive and makes a challenge for users to find topics not already discussed to be put in the pages (Johnson, 2006). 4.2 Google Maps. What it is Google maps were the one of a kind application that was seen on internet that raised many eyebrows. This application was the source of inspiration to many other applications that were built and “maps” were the structure that tested the new limits of the Web 2.0 architecture (Miller, 2006). Technology Example Google maps is one of the first applications to developed on Ajax that utilised properties from xml to make the experience of users better in terms of interaction. The thing that really makes Google maps application different from its predecessors is that the application can be used as a third party plug-in into any other site and still be used without any re-coding or intensive integration (Miller, 2006). Strengths and Weaknesses: Google maps stands true to the vision of web 2.0 as being sharing freely with all users. This web application is available for use free and is supported by the millions of users in a way that sponsors advertise on the maps application (Miller, 2006). Along with many other applications that Google has developed, maps has been one of the main reasons for increasing the recognition of the brand- Google. Instead of charging people for the use, they have been able to tune their products using web 2.0 to generate revenues from advertising (Miller, 2006). 4.3 del.icio.us What it is As other web 2.0 applications, del.icio.us is an application that makes it possible for users around the globe to share their favourite pages with others on the internet. This also makes it convenient for people to be able to access their bookmarks from any computer they use (Teague, 2006). Technology example The application allows users to rate the pages they think are more interesting a hence categorise them in a way where users with common interest can easily access information- hence replacing the tedious search in the traditional search engines (Teague, 2006). Strengths and Weaknesses The application generates its business through advertising and sponsors. Although, no particular business model has been developed to conceive the future of the application, it is still rendered as a functioning application for web 2.0 due to its high membership. The application has been taken up by yahoo and further enhanced to improve n the usability and interactivity of the site (Teague, 2006). 4.4 Flickr What it is Flickr is one of the most viable projects in terms of users in the web 2.0 architecture. The application is based on sharing photographs with users in a community form and may also be used to make private albums reducing the effort to carry photographs in the computer (Solomon, 2007). Technology example The technology is along the same patterns of Google and more emphasis are given on providing tags by the users through which pictures may be found by others sharing the same interests (Solomon, 2007). Strengths and Weaknesses Advertising is used in relation to the tags to generate specific advertising structures in favour of the sponsors. The strength of the application comes from streamed advertising that relates to the interest topics in the pictures. With its limitations in term of the categories of pictures that may be available, however, this may be further elaborated in the future development of the application (Solomon, 2007). Comments: For each of the case study, 4.1 Wikipedia, 4.2 Google Maps. 4.3 del.icio.us and 4.4 Flickr I want you change the heading and follow the three new subheadings, which are: What it is? Technology Example Strength and weaknesses For example: Wikipedia Simple and easy description on what is Wikipedia. Then in the Technology heading I want you to give example of technology that uses Wikipedia. Finally I want to know what is the strength and weakness of Wikipedia. The Synopsis can be added to the Wikipedia heading. So the main three heading should: Adopt this example for the rest of the case study 5.0) Web 2.0 uses new technology: 5.1 RIA Rich Internet applications (RIA) have evolved out of Web 2.0 development to be applications that are not restricted to the level of a home or business computer, but may be accessed and run online through the web. RIA applications have been developed to sustain the bulk of the application on the web and application servers only keeping the processing of the web application to be loaded on the client side computer through a web page. RIAs do not require users to install specific software or any other tool on the client side computer and may access the application as using or browsing any other website (Duval et al, 2007). The uses for RIA based applications have outweighed the drawbacks for using such an intricate system. Where regular desktop applications may have been relatively easy to approach and use, the drawbacks of system software are the actual strengths of the RIA applications (Carter, 2007). Many advantages of an RIA based application may be as follows: Since the applications are accessed online, the RIAs do not require themselves to be available as part of the system software on the machine and any customizations, updates and uses of the application may be saved online and may be accessed from any computer (Carter, 2007). The updates and upgrades are simpler and do not require additional space on the client side as mostly these updates are handled and executed on the web servers (Carter, 2007). Applications based on RIA are cross platform and can function on any system and operating software as the functionality of all such applications is more of a web form than an actual software and web browsers are used to allow clients to connect to the server software and applications (Johnson, 2006). As the applications are accessed on the web, it has resulted in the user systems to be less prone to viruses and other harmful codes that may result from insertions of many removable storage devices to transport data form one PC to another (Johnson, 2006). RIA Example Sites: Google Beta Calendar: it allows you to organize the schedule and share events with friends The Broadmoor: booking a hotel room (www.broadmoore.com) Google Map: Able to zoom in the maps, that focuses on an address or post code 6.0) Conclusions: Web 2.0 technologies have laid path for adoption of interactive social pages to evolve as a main feature of development. However, the applications of web 2.0 have not been able to generate revenues that may justify the time and resources used to deploy web 2.0 applications. Businesses are facing the same types of users that do not generate enough revenues that lead to the first dot com bubble to burst and many are already narrating the web 2.0 to go through the same fate and be known as bubble 2.0 (McCormack, 2003). However, in contrast to the pessimistic criticism of web 2.0, many companies have established themselves as successful online commercial entities and many others are on their way towards success. The main reason of success has come from the development of technologies for web 2.0 in such a way that their development and implementation has been radically easy to deploy and on the client side- extremely user friendly, as compared to Web 1.0. This has enabled companies to use the user friendly and interactive technologies to not just make communities online but also to gain advantage in their selling processes (McCormack, 2003). The developments in and for Web 2.0 may be at an initial stage, but the adoption and application process has been at such a higher rate that the internet and web developers are already looking at the future of Web in terms of an extended version such as Web 3.0. Developers are looking to enhance the existing capabilities of Web 2.0 in terms of social and business networking. This may be achieved by thoroughly decentralising the technologies in Web 2.0 and will allow users and clients to update several web sites in a single use (McCormack, 2003). Comments: Diagrams needs to have sources (where it came from) and a title. You needs to exaplin the diagram and say how RIA is used in them 7.0) Reference: Carter, S. 2007. The New Language of Business: SOA & Web 2.0. IBM Press/Pearson Duval, E. et al. 2007. Creating New Learning Experiences on a Global Scale. Springer Johnson, D. 2006. RSS and Atom in Action: Web 2.0 Building Blocks. Manning McCormack, D. 2003. Web 2.0: 2003-2008 AC (after Crash). Aspatore Miller, M. 2006. Googlepedia: The Ultimate Google Resource. Que. Solomon, G. & Schrum, L. 2007. Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools. International Society for Technology in Education Teague, J. 2006. CSS, DHTML, and Ajax Cranford Teague. Peachpit Press. Comments: Please check your references again as I need like page number, which edition is the book from, the title needs to underline and so on Read More