by Bill Vedra
1 May 06
| Web 2.0 will completely change the way you use your computer. You may have heard this tech buzzword, pronounced “web two point oh,” but you’re more likely wondering what the heck it means. You aren’t alone. “I didn’t even realize there was a Web 1.0,” you might think, just as an infantryman in 1915 didn’t realize he was fighting in “World War I”. Who knew there would be two? The computer you are familiar with has programs or applications on it that you use for various tasks: writing a letter, sorting photographs, and making a spreadsheet. The internet, in its infancy, held a vast array of static web pages with information from all over the world. Today, as they web becomes more dynamic, the lines between your computer and the internet are blurring and the concepts of Web 2.0 are behind it. Web 2.0 doesn’t signify a whole new internet; it’s a term for a new shift in how we use it, and the exact definition varies. The root of this trend is the web becoming more of a platform, acting like and taking the place of programs once found on your computer’s hard drive. Static No Longer Using a combination of technologies in the background with a slew of confusing acronyms (AJAX, RoR, API, and XML to name a few), web designers are making streamlined user interfaces that work simply and elegantly. These services act just like a program on your computer, but are accessible from any internet browser. Gone are the days of clicking something and waiting for the whole page to reload. Now, for example, services like Google Calendar let you drag a meeting from one day to another and that’s all there is to it. An “Architecture of Participation” But the 2.0 trend involves more than just slick designs. Also integral are the community aspects built into web services, sometimes called an “architecture of participation”. The more people that use flickr.com, a popular photo sharing website, the easier it will be to find a picture of a white dog when you need one. The more users who contribute and review information on wikipedia.org, a publicly editable encyclopedia, the more valuable a source it becomes. The internet is evolving into a truly social experience. For example, the website last.fm will look at the music I play in Apple’s music program iTunes and tell me that user Sally listens to the same things I do. Even more valuable, it can tell me that Sally also loves a group I don’t have, and a few clicks later I’ve discovered a new favorite band. Placing trust in the user to contribute what they know has added immeasurable value to existing web services. The ability for regular users to add reviews about products on popular retailer Amazon.com’s site can be more helpful in a purchase decision than reading the manufacturer’s description. User empowerment is key to the Web 2.0 trend. The information you put into it belongs to you, and you should be able to get it back out. Flickr.com makes it easy to send those pictures to grandma, post them to your website, or have them waiting at Target’s photo counter in an hour. With Google Calendar, you can save your events to a calendar program or share them with a friend. Why should I care? These changes don’t seem too drastic, so you may find yourself wondering why you should even care. What is available right now and labeled under the Web 2.0 buzzword umbrella is only the beginning. Within a few years, little of what you do will happen locally on your computer. The age of internet-based applications is upon us, and in a few years you may look back on a time when people bought things like Microsoft Word to install on their PCs and laugh at how silly it was. Yes, even such staples as Microsoft Office may fall prey to this seemingly harmless buzzword, and some have speculated that internet giant Google is plotting just that. The mammoth search company recently purchased a Web 2.0 startup called Writley, a word processor along the lines of Microsoft Word with one major difference; it is completely web-based. Google hasn’t announced their plans, but the implication is clear. Their email and calendar services can already go toe-to-toe with Microsoft Outlook, and Writley will challenge Word. With only a few more programs to tackle, Microsoft’s Office suite may be in serious trouble. The benefit to end-users is clear. Tasks that once required programs costing hundreds of dollars can now be completed for free, online. And you aren’t limited to the computer containing your software – your data will be there for you on any internet-connected PC. Sounds great, right? Privacy advocates are gritting their teeth at this point in the article, because all the information you once kept in the bowels of your desktop PC may soon be floating around in a Google server facility instead. Privacy comfort levels are different for different people. Sure, your data would be probably secure. But in the age of patriot acts, hackers, and identity thieves, this is an issue to think about. In late 2005, Google made a lot of noise after government officials requested they turn over information on your web searches. Google replied with a loud “Thanks, but no thanks,” and made a bold statement about user privacy. Why didn’t you hear about this from other search engines? Because every other one who received the request handed your search information without question. Granted, the data wasn't directly linked to personally identifiable information, but what is next? The way we use our computers and the internet is changing rapidly, right under our noses. For the most part, these changes will be an improvement, but they raises issues on which it might be a good idea to stay informed. I just thought you might like to know.
- Bill |
Further Reading
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