What’s the difference? In bad old HTML, form and content were tied together. Web 1.0 resembles a fancy book with index links, whether you wanted them or not. Like a submarine, most users surfing the web were passive. Both 1.0 and 2.0 have hyperlinks. Web 2.0 websites allow users to do more than just retrieve information. - my emphasis. (Wikipedia, 2008)

When we separate data and format, users become capable of publishing their own content, be that text or any other digital media. What also arises is the possibility of mixing different content together, such as Flickr Maps. We collaboratively tag all this new data, as we see fit, in order to keep track of what we want and how. Web 2.0 is linking people… …people sharing, trading, and collaborating… (Wesch, 2007)

In alluding to the version-numbers that commonly designate software upgrades, the phrase “Web 2.0″ hints at an improved form of the World Wide Web. Technologies such as weblogs (blogs), wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds (and other forms of many-to-many publishing), social software, and web application programming interfaces (APIs) provide enhancements over read-only websites. (Wikipedia, 2008)

Some indicative examples of Web 2.0 applications or “services” are:

• eBay
• Wikipedia
• NetVibes
• Flickr
• Facebook and other social networking sites
• blogs, such as this one, and online content management systems

Comparing the blink book-marking application (mostly web 2.0) http://www.blinklist.com/InternetCommunications/ with the same bare-bones NET11 list of bookmarks rendered as an index, is rather black and white. The link list contains a fixed amount of minimal data, just a link title and text description, in a fixed (seemingly random) order. The blink list can be manipulated in several ways and each entry contains several meta-data: URL, tags, dates, votes, sometimes a thumbnail preview, and so on. So much more than just a list, and each entry can be private or public. Also the application provides a social networking service where one can collaborate on entries with others. Needless to say, the blink version is superior as not only does it have the additional meta-data, interactivity, social aspect, usability, it also has that visual reminder of the thumbnail making it quick to recall.

In summary, web 2.0 is a smarter, more usable resource for everyone.

References

Wesch, M (2007, March 08). The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version).

Retrieved August 19, 2008, from YouTube website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g

Wikipedia, (2008, August 18). Web 2.0.

Retrieved August 19, 2008, from Wikipedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0