Web 2.0 is a term refers to a perceived second generation of Internet-based services which include a variety of tools that allow users collaborate, generate and share content, data and information through Internet. The phrase, Web 2.0, is coined by O'Reilly Media in 2003. This phrase is closely related with Tim O'Reilly due to the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. Web 2.0 is pop Users make use of various kinds of social software, that allow users to interact and share data, and web as a platform for generating, re-purposing and consuming content. Web 2.0 concentrates on the common applications or services such as web-based applications, blogs, video sharing sites, wikis, contact managers and social networking. These are more generally connected web which people can contribute to the extent that they can consume.
The growth of Web 2.0 shows a sign of development in the global view of how people handle the web. This change of use is mostly derived from existing web data-sharing devices being used to share information and content, together with the use of programming level interfaces to web-based application. Web-based applications allow flexibility in regaining data at a programmatic level, and the use of communication protocols which allow specialized data exchange.
Web 2.0 is categorized into two main themes which are Read/Write Web and Web as Platform. The Read/Write Web as a shared medium where users are both writers and readers. Applications are delivered and received thoroughly via a browser. The main channel for this Read/Write Web is social software, such as blogs, instant messaging, and media sharing, allow communication and collaboration among people. Users obtain, manipulate and control the data on the sites. In other hand, the Web as Platform as a programming platform which developers create their own software application. The main medium for this is Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow communication among software applications.
Characteristics of Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is a rich, interactive, and user-friendly interface based on Ajax or other similar frameworks. Besides, graphical interfaces, which are absent in Web 1.0, are enhanced by Web 2.0. Examples of graphical interfaces are gradients and rounded corners. The characteristics of Web 2.0 are shown as following:
Social Media
The rise of social media is one of the hallmark features of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 has smoothened path to a new social culture over internet. Some of the websites become the social identity for individuals. They get the opportunities to communicate and interact with others in the websites. For examples, Flickr and Youtube is used to sharing photos and videos respectively. Bookmarking allow users to mark and distribute information to friends through Internet. Web 2.0 also indicates the widespread integration of high-speed Internet access, sharing audio and video files more easily.
Web 2.0 Application Software
The easiest way to know more about Web 2.0 is to look at the software which is usually thought as Web 2.0 software. Using Web 2.0, individual systems are hosted on a server and accessed the web by means of a browser. Besides Web 2.0 software, they also call as Web 2.0 systems, Web 2.0 services, or Web applications. The major application areas which symbolise the Web 2.0 are shown as below:
Blogs
A blog is initially known as weblog. A blog is a system that allows a single author or, less frequently, a group authors to write and post articles on web. Readers can leave comments to particular posts. Bloggers can gain a corpus of knowledge by the use of posts and comments. This can be encouraged and facilitated by a teacher or a group of dedicated life-long learners. Blogs can be used by teachers or tutors to make announcements, news and feedbacks to students or learners.
Wikis
A wiki is a website that allows one or more people to access and contribute their knowledge in a set of interlinked webpages. Wikis allow users to create and edit the webpages which as collaborative tool that aid the production of a group work. Wikis can be used by tutors to create annotated reading lists. Moreover, learners could mark areas of the wikis which require attention and provide feedbacks on each other's writing.
Syndication and Notification Technologies
A user can simply use a feed reader or an aggregator to view recent updates or changes. Besides, the feed readers also can be functioned to centralise all the recent changes in the sources of interest. This relies on protocol called Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and Atom to list feeds. Atom and RSS formats are developed to allow content to be automatically embedded somewhere else. The Atom format is developed as an alternative to RSS. Feed Readers enable learners and tutors to become aware of new blog posts, to keep update of new shared media and to follow the current news.
Mashups
A mashup is a service which enables users to combine, personalise and configure systems according their own requests. For example, bloggers can alter the contents of the margins of their posts to enable access information and communication facilities. In addition, the notation of mashups, where users can mix and repurpose data for their own requirement, is also added by Web 2.0. The example of mashup is Google Maps mashups which include location data is a map provided by the Google Maps service.
Social/Media Sharing Services
These applications allow users to seek for and present their contents. Besides forming valuable educational resources, these services can be a showcase for creative effort. They provide the ability to upload and download documents in numerous formats including machine-generated speech.
Social Networking Systems
This system enables users to join together for various purposes. The main key to access social networking systems is the ability to describe oneself, and the notions of friends, communities and ranking. Recently, Facebook is being adopted by teachers and used it for course related purposes.
Examples of Web 2.0:
