Is it a software product? Is it a server? No, Web 2.0 is something old, something borrowed, but perhaps not all that new and really rather ill-defined.
While just about everyone in the IT industry seems to be talking about Web 2.0, there also seems to be very little common understanding of what the term means. It also leaves most people wondering how they missed Web 1.0.
In reality, no one missed anything. The term Web 1.0 was applied retrospectively to all that came before Web 2.0. So where did the term Web 2.0 come from and when did it happen?
Despite resembling a software product name, Web 2.0 was first used by O`Reilly Media in 2004 in the title of a conference about an emerging new era of Web-based activity. In its widest form, the term refers to a second generation of Web applications and services, hence Web 2.0.
It would be reasonable to say Web 2.0 often means different things to different people.
Warwick Ashford
The CEO of 24.com, Kim Reid, recently used the term in this way when he said his portal was typical of a Web 2.0 offering because it recognised that people want to use the Internet for more than e-commerce or looking up information.
The term has been adopted throughout the IT industry, but inevitably its meaning has become progressively wider or ill-defined as more people added their own spin. Consequently, it would be reasonable to say Web 2.0 often means different things to different people.
A common problem
Unfortunately, the lack of any universal definition for Web 2.0 is shared by so many other terms in the IT world. I have yet to come across two people in the industry (from different companies) who have exactly the same idea about RFID, SOA, NGN and a host of others.
Accepting there is no strict definition of Web 2.0, we can still look at the kinds of things that fall within its broad meaning. The most common thread in SA so far relates to the idea of using the Internet in a more interactive way.
For the developers of a Cape Town-based Web site for linking up learner drivers with instructors, it`s the high level of interactivity that makes it typical of Web 2.0. Rafiq Phillips and Miguel dos Santos say iDrive.co.za goes beyond search by providing user feedback, lesson booking facilities and SMS-based confirmations.
A good illustration of the Web 2.0 phenomenon is the switch from something like Britannica Online to Wikipedia, which illustrates both the move beyond searching for static information to a much more interactive environment where users can make contributions to entries.
Social networking is an important element of Web 2.0, as demonstrated by online phenomena like eBay, Skype and blogging.
Enter Ajax
From a technical point of view, the iDrive.co.za site uses Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax), which Java experts predict will have a huge impact on future Web applications because it enables service-oriented architecture for the client.
The use of Ajax is another common thread when the term Web 2.0 is applied because Ajax is emerging as one of the easiest ways of enabling the rich, interactive, user-friendly interfaces associated with highly interactive Web sites and Web-based applications.
Web 2.0 commonly refers to Web-based applications such as word processing and spreadsheets found only on the desktop back in the Web 1.0 era. An increasing number of features and applications traditionally associated with a PC environment are becoming browser-based.
Even Microsoft is beginning to explore new licensing models to deliver some of its productivity and collaboration software as an online service and is following a new policy of developing software that is browser agnostic. An encouraging sign.
Another useful way of viewing Web 2.0 is to think of it in terms of participation. Web sites are no longer isolated and static, but are increasingly including tools that enable users to comment on, add and even modify content.
Nothing new
Although differing in the details, most users of the term Web 2.0 would agree that it refers to a strong movement towards greater Web use of interaction, social networking, and user-dependent portals in a new wave of activity and business models linked to the Internet.
However, the debate still remains whether there really is anything "new" about Web 2.0, with many saying the concepts and applications it is often used to describe do not really go beyond the original concept of the World Wide Web.
Perhaps the most cynical view regarding Web 2.0`s ill-defined nature is that the term tends to mean whatever its users need it to mean to persuade customers they are creating something new, rather than merely extending existing technology.
Getting real about Web 2.0 means realising that while the term may be exploited to mislead audiences into seeing value or innovation where there really isn`t any, it is also a clear sign that new behaviour and expectations are beginning to drive Web-based activity.
Whether or not Web developers accept Web 2.0, the rapid adoption and widespread use of the term means the industry cannot afford to ignore the changes taking place around the way information is created, stored and disseminated.
Love it or hate it, Web 2.0 is probably a phenomenon few industry players can afford to ignore.
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