Web 2.0 - The Next Generation of the Internet

Back in 1995 a couple of us UNIX administrators at Honeywell were fooling around with the first web server software called httpd – Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Daemon. With a name like that, we just had to play around with it. I mean “Hyper”? Anything hyper just had to be cool! It simply amazed us. We could share files much easier than before. Our imaginations ran wild thinking of new ways to allow people to share information seamlessly and access databases using a rich user interface. But as time went on it became evident that the Web would also have economic value. As a result of refocusing our efforts on e-commerce, the original vision of creating a rich user experience was changed and web pages became clunky and arduous. Have you ever been on the Internet and had to wait for a web page to load? That’s a dumb question, right? Everyone who uses the Internet experiences this all the time. This sort of “start-stop” nature of websites can be frustrating and has been labeled Web 1.0.

Web 2.0
The recent “buzz” in the industry that causing much discussion is “Web 2.0”. Actually, it was a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004 that refers to a supposed second-generation of Internet-based services. Services that facilitate social networking, wikis, better communication tools, RIAs, AJAX, etc. The emphasis of Web 2.0 more resembles the original vision of Tim Berners Lee - free collaboration and sharing among users.

AJAX and RIAs
Web 2.0 concepts involve something known as Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). Asynchronous Javascript And XML or otherwise referred to as AJAX, is one of the building blocks of RIAs. Instead of needing to reload an entire web page, a developer can use AJAX techniques to update only part of a web page. These techniques are not new. In fact us web developers have been using similar techniques for years. But within the last few years it has become easier because Cascading Style Sheet, HTML, Javascript standards have improved. Also, a browser object called "XMLHttpRequest()" has been implemented in most popular browsers. This makes it possible to post data in the background and update the web page without refreshing the entire web page. Its event driven model makes it possible to provide true asynchronous behavior.

The Ajax technique uses a combination of:

• XHTML (or HTML) and CSS, for marking up and styling information.
• The DOM accessed with a client-side scripting language, especially ECMAScript implementations such as JavaScript and JScript, to dynamically display and interact with the information presented.
• The XMLHttpRequest object is used to exchange data asynchronously with the web server. In some Ajax frameworks and in certain situations, an IFrame object is used instead of the XMLHttpRequest object to exchange data with the web server, and in other implementations, dynamically added <script> tags may be used.
• XML is sometimes used as the format for transferring data between the server and client, although any format will work, including pre-formatted HTML, plain text, JSON and even EBML. These files may be created dynamically by some form of server-side scripting.
  

AJAX and RIAs are certainly the glue that's used to create and enable Web 2.0, but it doesn't define Web 2.0. Really, it's the way that the Internet is used by humans to socialize, share, collaborate and conduct day-to-day life.

A Social Revolution
Throughout the past decade, the Internet has begun to have a huge impact on the world from a social perspective. Web 2.0 encompasses a far reaching set of Internet based communication and collaboration capabilities that help facilitate social networking. Social Networking in short allows people of a common interest to easily connect and collaborate via the Internet. Many social networking web sites are also incorporate blogs, wikis, photo sharing, etc.

Social media often conjures up thoughts of myspace.com. You know...a bunch of partying college friends spewing meaningless comments into Blogs that have seemingly no purpose. And that is largely what's fueled the Web 2.0 social revolution. But most technology is mis-used at first until it finds its true purpose. The social aspects of the Internet and Web 2.0 have a greater potential that’s creeping up on the world organically. Let’s face it, Internet-based social software is de-emphasizing the need for traditional forms of media…TV, telephone, newspapers, DVDs, etc. More people are viewing youtube.com that all 3 networks combined!

My point is that social forms of media are truly different because they allow disparate individuals to collaborate and share information…in real time. People are able to create online communities that never existed before, breaking down political barriers and spanning geographical gaps. For example, a person in Brazil can collaborate conveniently with someone in Russia because Social Media enables it.

Online Communities
A recent Web 2.0 phenomenon that’s getting a lot of attention is MySpace.com. The site enables people from anywhere in the world to create online communities with common interests. MySpace utilizes various Web 2.0 technologies like Blogs and photo sharing to enhance social networking. Communities become linked when trusted relationships are established. Over time, an entire network of communities is formed.

Blog
You may be wondering what a “Blog” is. Simply put, it is a type of website where entries are made (such as in a journal or diary), and displayed in reverse chronological order. They often provide commentary on a particular subject regarding politics, news or personal diaries. Blogs are able to combine text, images and hyperlinks giving them richer content than the bulletin boards of the past. People reply to the postings and it becomes an online discussion about the given topic.

Wiki
Wiki is type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or edit its content. “Wiki-wiki" means, "hurry quick" in Hawaiian. A wiki (originally called Quickweb) is an editable website that doesn’t require users to know HTML and they can quickly modify or add content. In fact, this definition was taken from Wikipedia.org, a sort of online encyclopedia created by thousands of people around the world.