Seb Paquet notes from Information Architecture Summit in Montreal, March 2005. This from Brett Lider:
"Defining the Future - The Web 2.0 article on Wikipedia was clearly written by an engineer. Look at those acronyms!
Some components of Web 2.0. Social networks, desktop information, browser history, tastes and preferences - getting them documented and un-siloed, analog information."
Quite right. Although I like the Wikipedia definition, Brett makes a great point. Web 2.0 is just as much about the business effects as the technical underpinnings.
Web 2.0 is also about the people aspects. Josh Petersen from 43 Things puts it well:
"Part of what is happening on the web today, through folksonomies, blogs, social networks, link sharing and photo sharing are new ways for people to disclose their personalities in public and new ways to develop a digital identity that might augment who we are as people, offline."
Don't get me started on avatars! :-)
NB: it seems the techy Wikipedia definition of Web 2.0 is under debate. Boris Mann takes issue with the "implementation" section pointing to companies - he says "let's not have this page be a commercial advertisement, but rather an evolving definition of Web 2.0." Then Aaron Swartz weighs in by saying it's "a vague article promoting a bunch of the author's favorite technologies and psuedo-tech-blabber."
Both reasonable objections, although I'd like to see the author of the original definition respond. Also I'd like to see a more business-focused definition added, to complement the techy one. If I get any free time in the coming weeks (unlikely!) I may even pen it myself.
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I completely agree that the definition would be incomplete without mention of the business side-effects.
In effect, the whole idea is based around end-user empowerment through democratizing information via XML streams. Internet users are becoming more productive through increased ease of gathering and sharing information. UI improvements are arising, evident by XMLHttpRequest (Ajax) and mod-pubsub. Programmers are being empowered by new frameworks, such as RoR, that significantly increase their productivity.
Due to its impact on productivity it is reasonable to ponder the economic ramifications of Web 2.0.
learning curve:
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=learning%20curve
Riding the S-Curve: Thriving in a Technological Revolution:
http://www.clevelandfed.org/Research/com2001/0101.htm
Disruptive Technologies:
http://www.lansbridge.com/sample/sample_npd/display.php?page=1
Posted by: Brady Joslin | March 23, 2005 7:15 PM
Excellent links Brady, thanks! It's definitely worth exploring the economic ramifications of Web 2.0 - I'll try to do that here on R/WW.
Posted by: Richard MacManus | March 23, 2005 10:48 PM