[Air-l] how to pin down web 2.0

[Alex Halavais]

I generally agree that this is a term without much useful meaning. If
you ask people what Web 2.0 is, they will start rattling off a bunch
of techniques and uses that generally add up to something like these
maps:

http://ru3.com/luc/uploaded_images/web2-big-745097.jpg
http://stephenslighthouse.sirsi.com/archives/web20.jpg
http://hinchcliffe.org/img/web2architecture.jpg
http://hello.eboy.com/eboy/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/FTN_CommunicationCity_06t.png

As Richard Feynman said, you can know the names of every bird in the
world without knowing a bit about birds. If I were to characterize
what these Web 2.0 examples hold in common, it is that they are all
companies that have attracted funding or make money on the web over
the last few years. I guess in some sense, that's what the 2.0 means,
although it suggests some kind of breaking point with earlier
approaches to design. (Does that mean that Amazon and eBay were 2.0
before their time?)

So, I think it is largely a short way to say "a business model and
design approach consistent with what is popular at the moment on the
web."

I think "social software" and "social media" fall into a similar trap:
show me software that isn't social!

"Sociable media" does suggest something different, as does the
increasingly frequently heard "user-created media." These are still
very broad terms, but they shift the focus to what people are doing
when they interact with various sites and technologies, rather than
(e.g.) how the website loads current data into view (AJAX, CSS, curvy
bits, OpenID, etc.).

- Alex


On 4/20/07, Amy S. Bruckman <asb at cc.gatech.edu> wrote:
>
> To pop up a level a bit in the conversation....
> Do folks here actually use the term?
> Should we all use it or not?
>
> The Wikipedia definition says Web 2.0 sites are ones that "that
> facilitate collaboration and sharing between users."  My reaction to
> that is: um, what did you think the web was doing before?   =:-)
>
> YMMV,
>
> Amy
>
>
> Amy Bruckman
> Associate Professor
> College of Computing
> Georgia Institute of Technology
> Atlanta, GA  30332-0760
>
> Tel:    404-894-9222
> Fax:    404-894-3146
> Email:  asb at cc.gatech.edu
> Web:    http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/
>
> _______________________________________________
> The air-l at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/
>


-- 


--
//
// This email is
// [X] assumed public and may be blogged / forwarded.
// [ ] assumed to be private, please ask before redistributing.
//
// Alexander C. Halavais
// Social Architect
// http://alex.halavais.net
//