web 2.0 (web two dot oh)

© KM 2009 the University of Greenwich 1

Web 2.0

Web 2.0(web two dot oh)

Dr Kevin McManus


Web 2.0

Web 2.0• Motivation

• provide an overview of the memeset that has emerged in what is now commonly called Web two-dot-oh

• Objectives• to become aware of the main principles of

Web 2.0• become fluent in the vocabulary of Web 2.0• appreciate the relevance and future of Web

2.0


Web 2.0

Web 1.0

• Web pages as information sources• information is largely static

• WORM

• changing content meant reworking by the website administrators

• Stateful transaction based eBusiness• shopping trolleys• eBay


Web 2.0

Evolution of the Web

Generation 2Web Applications

HTML

Generation 1Static HTML

HTML

HTML, XML

Generation 3Web Services

XML


Web 2.0

Bursting the Bubble• After a lengthy history of being used

almost exclusively by geeks the world suddenly discovered dot-com in 1998

• The resulting dot-com bubble peaked in March 2000

• By August 2002 the bubble had deflated

• In mid 2003 dot-com began it's recovery and moved into Web 2.0


Web 2.0

I have only just mastered Web 1.0 Now there’s a new version?

• The expression "Web 2.0" arrived with the first Web 2.0 conference• San Francisco October 2004• before J. J. Garrett published AJAX (Feb 05)• before Web 2.0 actually arrived

• Tim O'Reilly is widely credited with coining the term Web 2.0

• Web 2.0 was not invented• it evolved


Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is not

• A new version of the Internet

• A new version of the Web

• A new release of software

• A new technology

• A new way of Web surfing


Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is

• A new way of approaching the creation of web sites

• An emphasis on user generated content, sharing, collaboration and mashups

• Changing the way online businesses operate

• Attracting a lot of hyperbole

• More than just hype


Web 2.0

Evolution of the Web

Generation 4Web 2.0

XML

HTML, XML

asynchronous partial page

updates

service oriented architectures

user generated content


Web 2.0

The Seven Principles of Web 2.0

• Tim O’Reilly gives seven principles that contribute to Web 2.01. The Web As Platform

2. Harnessing Collective Intelligence

3. Data is the next 'Intel Inside'

4. End of the Software Release Cycle

5. Lightweight Programming Models

6. Software above the level of a single device

7. Rich user experiencesT. O'Reilly “What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for

the Next Generation of Software” (2005)


Web 2.0

The Web As Platform• Web 2.0 doesn't have a hard boundary

• but rather, a gravitational core

• You can visualize Web 2.0 as a set of principles and practices

• A software paradigm

• A collection of memes

“A Platform Beats an Application Every Time” - O’Reilly


Web 2.0

Mind Map - Web 2.0 Memes

Markus Angermeier (2005) "The huge cloud lens bubble map web2.0" http://kosmar.de


Web 2.0

Harnessing Collective Intelligence• The wisdom of crowds

• linking turns documents into a web• linking harnessed by Google to rate pages

• a substantially democratic process

• page ranking, user reviews, linked sales• tagging and folksonomy

• Flickr, del.icio.us, dogear

• User generated content• blogs instead of home pages• wikis instead of encyclopedias

• radical trust

"large groups of people are smarter than an elite few" James Surowieki, "The Wisdom of Crowds" (2005)


Web 2.0

Data is the Next 'Intel Inside'• It’s all about the data

• this is the information revolution

• Data is the path to revenue

• The network is the computer• ubiquitous access to data

• Who owns the data?• creative commons licensing your work


Web 2.0

End of the Software Release Cycle

• Software as a service• not as a product or artifact

• Operations must become a core competency• software will cease to perform unless it is

maintained on a daily basis• perpetual beta

• Users must be treated as co-developers• not unlike open source


Web 2.0

Lightweight Programming Models• Large companies proposed complex web service stacks

• designed to create highly reliable programming environments for distributed applications

• But the web succeeded because of it’s simplicity• REST (POX) has many advantages over SOAP

• cf. Amazon Web Services

• Innovation emerges in assembly• mashups

• Lessons learned:• support lightweight programming models that allow for loosely

coupled systems. • think syndication, not coordination• design for “hackability” and “remixability”


Web 2.0

Software Above the Level of a Single Device

• Not all web clients are Personal Computers• certainly not all running on M$ windoze

• iPod + iTunes heralded change• podcasting entered the vocabulary

• Highly distributed services• napster, BitTorrent, TiVo

• New applications will emerge when our phones and our cars are not simply consuming data but reporting it• real time traffic monitoring, flash mobs, and citizen

journalism are early warning signs


Web 2.0

Rich User Experiences• Following Java applets (1995) Macromedia led

development of ‘Rich Internet Applications’• with asynchronous partial page updates

• Asynchronous partial page updates now commonplace using both native and proprietary browser technologies• AJAX, RSS, RDF

• Flash, Flex, Silverlight, AIR

• Google led the mashup field with Gmail and Google Maps• web based applications with rich user interfaces and PC-

equivalent interactivity

• and more...


Web 2.0

Web 1.0 Web 2.0

DoubleClick ↔ Google AdSense

Ofoto ↔ Flickr

Akamai ↔ BitTorrent

mp3.com ↔ Napster, Last.fm

Britannica Online ↔ Wikipedia

content management systems ↔ wikis

personal websites ↔ blogging

domain name speculation ↔ search engine optimization

screen scraping ↔ web services

directories (taxonomy) ↔ tagging (folksonomy)

duplication ↔ syndication

publishing ↔ participation

Web 2.0 by Example

Adapted from : T. O'Reilly What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software" (2005)


Web 2.0

Gartner's 2006 Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle Highlights Key Technology Themes


Web 2.0

The Long Tail

The lower distribution and inventory costs of eBusiness allows profit to be made by selling small volumes of many niche items, instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items.

Wikipedia

the area under the curve has moved into the long tail


Web 2.0

Web 2.0 Mindset• Encourage input and participation from users

• voting, rating, feedback

• No gurus that hand out wisdom• gurus that guide collective intelligence

• Users interact with pages• not just reading (consuming)• RIAs

• Users collaborate on content• Blogs, Wikis, YouTube, MySpace

"Web 2.0 is an attitude, not a technology"I. Davis "Talis, Web 2.0 and All That" (2005)


Web 2.0

Web 2.0 Technologies • Open

• DHTML• XHTML, CSS, JavaScript,

DOM

• AJAX• Asynchronous JavaScript

And XML• except that it doesn’t

have to be XML

• XML• RSS, ATOM, RDF, VOIP

• SOAP, WSDL

• LAMP, Rails

• Proprietary (not necessarily closed)• Adobe

• Flash (shockwave)

• Flex

• AIR

• Microsoft• dotNET

• Silverlight

• Sun• Java

Audio and Video CODECs remain problematic


Web 2.0

Web 2.0 in Education

• Pushing the programming community to

combine services

• OpenAcadmic.org - combines parts of Moodle,

Drupal, Elgg, OpenID and MediaWiki

• Supporting learners, teachers and institutions

• Virtual learning environments

• Second Life• not really Web 2.0


Web 2.0

"The Net is a waste of time, and that is exactly what is right about it"attributed to William Gibson


Web 2.0

Debate “The Internet Makes us Dumb(er)”

For Against


Web 2.0

Who is participating in web 2.0?

• Huge growth of participatory web sites• 668% increase in last 2 years (2007)• Now account for 12% of the web!

• Not just for youngsters• Wikipedia:18-34 tend to consume what 35-

55+ produce• YouTube: 18-24 less likely to upload than

older users

• Participation is viral• Usage patterns continue to emerge


Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is changing the user experience

• Networked applications provide increased context and continuity• applications depend on each other

• RIAs are displacing the page metaphor• powerful, smoother, visually-stable applications

• Applications are now increasingly visual• video and animation is providing a more engaging

experience • Line between desktop and online blurring

• netvibes, iGoogle, goowy, eyeOS

• users want more applications online• Metadata-driven navigation


Web 2.0

The Lowering Barrier of Entry

• The barrier of entry for competing on the web is approaching zero

• Reducing startup costs for web-based business

• Hosting services becoming ridiculously cheap• it’s not just space you get for your money• tons of tools come along with the space

• Intelligence and imagination are the limiting factors


Web 2.0

What Does it Mean for Business?• Web 2.0 is raising the bar of user expectations

• users bring life experiences into the workplace

• Better applications are being created at an increasingly faster rate• to compete, traditional businesses must selectively

embrace the more nimble approaches

• Strategy must include…• leverage the participatory nature• leverage the “free web” without compromising quality,

security, and profit making• fostering a web 2.0 mentality

• can’t beat ’em, join ’em


Web 2.0

Designer Role Change• Writing semantic markup

• transition to XML • Providing Web services

• thinking SOA• Remixing content

• no re-inventing wheels• Emergent navigation and relevance

• users are in control• Adding metadata over time

• communities building social information• Task focused user interfaces

• enabling users to do what they want


Web 2.0

Problems• Wisdom of crowds or legitimising mob

rule?

• Protection of intellectual property

• Ownership of uploaded material

• Accessibility of AJAX

• Don Hinchliffe's 10 problems with Web 2.0• includes blogging instead of doing


Web 2.0

What about the semantic Web?

• Vision of Sir Tim• Machines using the WWW in a similar way to humans

• intelligently• using metadata

• XML technologies with SOA• RDF, OWL, DAML, OIL

• Held back by the difficulty of developing ontologies• Dublin core, FOAF, SIOC, etc.• despite Protégé

• an open source ontology editor and knowledge-base framework


Web 2.0

Web 3.0• Not easy to get a handle on this

• To many it is synonymous with Sir Tim's Semantic Web

• Others views include• permanent/ubiquitous web connection• 3D interfaces• push-pull architecture• persistent queries• hyperbole


Web 2.0

Conclusion• We have looked at the emergence of Web 2.0

• not a new technology• a new way of thinking

• memetic

• new ways of using established technologies• open technologies, little or no vendor lock-in

• User involvement• harnessing collective intelligence• the long tail

• Software as a service• perpetual beta• RIAs• task focused applications


Web 2.0

Any Questions?

web 2.0 (web two dot oh)

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