Web 2.0

Web 2.0 - What's the difference between Web 2.0 and Web 1.0??

This diagram dictates the main difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Within the years 1996 and 2006, the users of the web have escalated from 45 million to over a billion users. It also shows that there were approximately 250,000 sites in 1996. It jumped to over 80,000,000 sites in 2006. The other thing this diagram exhibits is the amount of user-generated content in relation to published content. Over the ten year period, the number of people that were contributing to the web instead of just accessing it skyrocketed.

What is Web 2.0?

Tim O'Reilly (2005) uses this model to show examples of different applications or web services that demonstate the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0:

Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0

Doubleclick vs. Google Adsense
Ofoto vs. Flickr

Akamai vs. BitTorrent
mp3.com vs. Napster
Brittanica Online vs. Wikipedia
personal websites vs. blogging

evite vs. upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation vs. search engine optimisation
page views vs. cost per click
screen scraping vs. web services
publishing vs. participation
content management systems vs. wikis
directories (taxonomy) vs. tagging (folksonomy)
stickiness vs. syndication

Through this list we can see that Web 1.0 sites were more about accessing information such as that of Brittanica Online. It's Web 2.0 counterpart, Wikipedia, allows everyday people to contribute to the information that can be accessed. Web 2.0 allows for user interaction.

The differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 are also shown in this comparison also presented by O'Reilly:

Web 1.0 was about reading, Web 2.0 is about writing

Web 1.0 was about companies, Web 2.0 is about communities

Web 1.0 was about client-server, Web 2.0 is about peer to peer

Web 1.0 was about HTML, Web 2.0 is about XML

Web 1.0 was about home pages, Web 2.0 is about blogs

Web 1.0 was about portals, Web 2.0 is about RSS

Web 1.0 was about taxonomy, Web 2.0 is about tags

Web 1.0 was about wires, Web 2.0 is about wireless

Web 1.0 was about owning, Web 2.0 is about sharing

Web 1.0 was about IPOs, Web 2.0 is about trade sales

Web 1.0 was about Netscape, Web 2.0 is about Google

Web 1.0 was about web forms, Web 2.0 is about web applications

Web 1.0 was about screen scraping, Web 2.0 is about APIs

Web 1.0 was about dialup, Web 2.0 is about broadband

Web 1.0 was about hardware costs, Web 2.0 is about bandwidth costs

These two models by O'Reilly clearly show us the technical differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.

There is a site called Go2Web20 (http://www.go2web20.net/) that gives a comprehensive list of websites that are in the Web 2.0 platform. Check them out to gain more perspective on the difference between sites such as Britannica Online.

References

Hinchcliffe, D. (2008) http://web2.socialcomputingmagazine.com/

O'Reilly, T. (2005) http://joedrumgoole.com/blog/2006/05/29/web-20-vs-web-10/

O'Reilly, T. (2005) http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

Shopping Online???

In the world we live in today where people expect everything on the 'right now', it is in my opinion that we experience a lack of patience. This can be as simple as getting aggravated by dialup internet speeds when we are used to broadband or cable. Many years ago we would have never known the difference and were somewhat content with what we could get. This is also similar to the topic of Online Shopping. The internet world has been flooded with online shops and online auction sites such as eBay. Years ago we were happy to go down the the local shopping centre to make our purchases, but today we need something else... but why?

There is a book written by Richard Seltzer titled "Shop Online the Lazy Way" which examines online shopping and attempts to rationalise it. He (1999) says "what could be easier than hopping in your car and driving to the mall ... and fighting for a parking space, and walking from store to store and aisle to aisle looking for the items you want, and waiting in the check-out line, and carrying those bags out to the car through a drenching rain storm, and driving home through the traffic as the rain turns to ice beneath your wheels?". The effort it takes to go shopping these days with overcrowded shopping centres with too little parking, too many shops, and too many screaming children, is not worth the product that you are after. If there was a way where everybody could stay at home and get their shopping chores done, why isn't everybody doing it?

Seltzer also says that there are other advantages to online shopping other than not having to leave your home. He says that if you are a bargain hunter, you are able to shop around for the cheapest price without having to go from store to store. There are also various sites that help you compare prices for your seeked items. Another positive attribute of online shopping is that you are able to find rare items that aren't sold everywhere. For example, if you have an older and not a run of the mill car and you are looking for parts for it, you may try searching on eBay because you might be able to find the item. Without this access to people or stores that have the things you want, you could be looking for a long time and still never find it.

The main thing about online shopping is that it is only really great if you know exactly what you want. Many people look online for hours to find a great product, but if you know what you want, the internet is a great place to just get it without having to have the hassle of the shopping centres.

References

Seltzer, R. 1999. why shop online? http://www.samizdat.com/shopintro.html (accessed April 19, 2008)

Information & Knowledge

Data - Information - Knowledge - Wisdom

http://www.wipro-campusarena.com/site/learning-development-understanding-ld/

This graph represents the heirarchy of data, information, knowledge and wisdom. On the left axis it has four different contexts that apply to the model. The bottom axis shows the transitition in understanding between data, information, knowledge and wisdom. What is interesting about this graph is that brings together context and understanding and then shows them in relationship to the model.

The whole structuring of this information management system is called DIKW (which is an acronym for Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom). It is though that data is the most basic level. Information adds meaning. Knowledge adds HOW to use the information and Wisdom tells WHEN to use it.

Data are numbers, words, images etc. Data is raw. It just exists.

Information is when you take these numbers, words or images and create meaning.


Knowledge can be acquired when information has been memorised. It is surpassed by Understanding. Understanding is when knowledge can be put into use. If the information is not understood, it can not be applied to more complex situations. Memorised information is still acceptable, but when the information can be understood, it is a lot more useful. The knowledge that is aquired when the information is understood, is far greater than that of a memorised nature. An example is when children learn the times table. They know that 2 times 2 is 4. But when asked what 2548 times 143 is, they are not able to comprehend the question. It is not until you have an understanding of this knowledge that you can apply it to more difficult equations (Bellinger, Castro, Mills. 2004).


Wisdom is more difficult to describe. It is a state of being. Once the information has been understood, there is a humanly state where we learn to discern, or judge, between right and wrong, good and bad about that information.

References

Wipro. 2008. Learning and Development: Understanding L & D. http://www.wipro-campusarena.com/site/learning-development-understanding-ld/

Bellinger, Castro, Mills. 2004. Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom. http://www.systems-thinking.org/dikw/dikw.htm

My first blog

Hi, my name is Ashleigh. I am a third year drama student at QUT. Firstly.. Virtual Cultures. I did not realise how many different cultures there are out there online. I belong to Myspace and Facebook. The internet is somewhere that people can go to share a common interest that they may not have found in the 'real world'. For example, people that are interested in dressing up as animals for sexual expression. These people may not have had this opportunity to find others like themselves if not for the use of an online community.

Social networks allows for you to keep in touch with your friends and family whilst being able to make new friends. I was not interested in social networking until I was introduced to it last year. The myspace platform was intriguing. It allows for you to choose your own background and page design. At first I was putting many pictures, toys and gimmicks but now I realise that less is more. Facebook was never something I intended on doing. A friend at University that I was in a group with was using it and asked me to join so we could converse about the assignment. Now, I am addicted. I go onto Facebook every day. There are many positive outlooks on social networking. It also allows people to upload photos, which can be useful for those that live far away from loved ones.

Overall, social networking allows people from all over the world to connect to discuss common interests, allows people to keep in touch with old friends and make new ones, and gives the opportunity for distanced people to stay up to date with people's lives.