Web 2.0 has always been just a buzzword for me. I’ve always known it to be a generation of the web, but I have never been too sure about it’s characteristics and what it exactly offers to the average Internet user. To answer some of my questions and to kill my curiosity, I decided to perform a quick research on the meaning of Web 2.0.
The expression Web 2.0 is frequently associated with web applications that assist interactive information sharing, interoperability, collaboration, user generated content and design on the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 does not only allow users to retrieve information, it presents a more interactive user-interface that encourages user-generated content. Some examples of Web 2.0 includes: Social networking websites, wikis, blogs and video-sharing websites.
On the 30th September 2005, Tim O’Reilly wrote an article titled “What is Web 2.0. Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software”. He states ”Web 2.0 doesn't have a hard boundary, but rather, a gravitational core.” My interpretation of this statement is that Web 2.0 is a lot more robust compared to Web 1.0. Due to the enhancement of user interactivity of the Web 2.0 platform, users are given the stand to collaborate within a virtual community where user-generated content can be shared within a network and stored in a collective pool of social knowledge. The Web 2.0 platform fundamentally supports the idea of collective knowledge because it can generate new knowledge as well as enhance the capacity to codify, store and retrieve knowledge by collectively accessing networked databases. Collective intelligence is the enhancement of group intelligence due to the ever-expanding degree of human collaboration and interaction.
Here is a great YouTube clip that gives a great technical summary of what Web 2.0 means.
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