Web 2.0

So, what is this Web 2.0?
A fancy new term for the latest internet fad?
Well, yes and no....like all terms the definition has grown from practical usage.

My understanding is that it is web-based program sites that allow anyone to interact with others over the internet. You don't have to buy or download the program for the delicious link sharing site, and flickr similarly allows you to share photos quickly and easily with others. You can upload to the site, and view what others have contributed and then add your comments to their contributions, and save your favourites to a place where you can view them again later.

So, in essence, it provides web-based social networking and sharing for members and viewers of those sites, with viewing privacy/permissions set by the authors of the content or by the moderators of the site.

The purpose of the site may be dating or informal training, advertising coming events for an organisation or sharing history and photos. It may be sharing of films or Powerpoint slideshows or photos or opinions. You may find that the comments shared do not agree and sometimes have to be deleted as inflammatory, but in essence it is democracy at work.


I found another coverage of 2.0 at Wikipedia (another instance of user - supplied shared information) and at http://www.paulgraham.com/web20.html which makes the points
that Web 2.0 began as a vague term about web-based applications but has become defined in practice also by

• web based software applications all can use without needing to be an IT guru eg. Javascript
  
• democracy
• all can view for free, uploaders need to register but usually it is still free of charges
  
• people can describe and find content using tags which can be searched for by the users interested in a subject, much as they can google (try looking for library on Youtube)
  
• sites can offer business options such as printing your photos in a variety of formats or selling them to others
  

If you have heard of and tried using googlemaps, then you will have used an excellent example of Web 2.0 in action. You can use the site to create your own maps to advertise your business or create tourist information with uploaded photos of your travels.

Tip 1. : when faced with slow download speed (blame the teenagers who have used up our broadband for the month) I opted to see the text version(look for the icon under the film window) of Stephen Fry's explanation of web 2.0
Of course, http://www.videojug.com/ the site this film is on, is itself a web 2.0 site like Youtube in that anyone can upload short films to explain anything from 'how to make a lemon tart' to 'what is respiratory failure'.

Tip 2. : It took me a while to find out how to add hyperlinks to this blog, but if you look to the top of the window when typing a post, you will see the icon to the right of the text colouring option. Just highlight the words you want to add a link to, then click on the link icon, and a new pop-up window will allow you to add the website address.

Tip3. : When adding text to your blog, the icons at the top of the creation window also contain options which allow you to add images, video and very importantly, spellcheck before you publish your post.

Tip 4 : Edit means just that, and if you open your blog in a new window, you can view and proofread the result and then change, fix typos, add more words, or even hit delete post!