Web 2.0 is an term referring to the ongoing transition from the existing Web to a full socialized Web, it tries to provide a new kind of applications where communication and collaboration is the main focus. It mainly addresses two issues:
The Read/Write Web: In which the Web is seen as a two-way medium, where people are both readers and writers. The main catalyst for this is social software, allowing communication and collaboration between two or more people.
The Web as Platform: In which the Web is seen as a programming platform upon which developers create software applications. The main catalyst for this is Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), allowing communication between two or more software applications.
It is important to recognize, however, that “Web 2.0″ is not anything other than the Web as it exists today. But the problems, issues, and technologies we’re dealing with are in many ways different, and so using the term “Web 2.0″ is a recognition that the Web is in a constant state of change, and that we have entered a new era of networked participation.
The following application changes have been named in the “What is Web 2.0″ article:
| Web 1.0 | Web 2.0 |
|---|---|
| DoubleClick | Google AdSense |
| Ofoto | Flickr |
| Akamai | BitTorrent |
| mp3.com | Napster |
| Britannica Online | Wikipedia |
| personal websites | blogging |
| evite | upcoming.org and EVDB |
| domain name speculation | search engine optimization |
| page views | cost per click |
| screen scraping | web services |
| publishing | participation |
| content management systems | wikis |
| directories (taxonomy) | tagging (”folksonomy”) |
| stickiness | syndication |
Other great examples of existing Web 2.0 applications are: Technorati, del.icio.us and Writely. For detailed introduction visit: Introduction to Web 2.0 by Joshua Porter and have a look at the What is Web 2.0? map from FOO Camp 2005 .









December 14th, 2005 at 12:12 pm
[…] http://www.user-interface.org/2005/12/14/new-kind-of-applications/ […]