An introduction to Web2.0

Claire Back

What is Web2.0?

A perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services – such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies – which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users.

Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the web.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web2.0

Characteristics of Web2.0

•Read/write web

•Web as a platform

•Permanent beta

•Open source

•Radical trust

Terminology associated with Web2.0

RSS

blogs

wikis

feedsmash-ups

social networking

tagging folksonomiesAPI

tag cloud

social software

podcasts

Blogging

• Online diary/journal

• Brief entries arranged in reverse chronological order

• Most recent entry at the top

• Quick and easy way to publish content online

•Ability to comment

Create your own

www.blogger.com

www.wordpress.com

Library blogs

Finding Blogs

http://blogsearch.google.com

www.technorati.com

• Really Simple Syndication/Rich Site Summary

• Also known as news feeds

•Allows you to be notified when new content appears without having to visit a site.

• Easy way to receive updates from your favourite sites or blogs

•Can save you a lot of time

RSS

Web-based news readers

www.google.com/reader

www.bloglines.com

Wikis

A collaborative website that can be edited by anyone with access to it

Library wikis

Create your own

http://pbwiki.com

www.wetpaint.com

Tagging and Folksonomies

• Tag – keyword associated with or assigned to a piece of information

• Informal, chosen by the author/creator or by consumers/viewers/community

• Folksonomy – social/collaborative tagging

Social bookmarking

• Store your bookmarks/favourites online

• Share with others

• See what others have bookmarked

•Usually organised by tags

Mashups

A mashup is a web application that combines data from more than one source into a single integrated tool….thereby creating a new and distinct web service that was not originally envisaged by either source.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_%28web_application_hybrid%29

Start pages

Social networking

A social network service focuses on the building and verifying of online social networks for communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others, and which necessitates the use of software.

Most social network services are primarily web based and provide a collection of various ways for users to interact, such as chat, messaging, email, video, voice chat, file sharing, blogging, discussion groups, and so on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking

The main types of social networking services are those which contain directories of some categories (such as former classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages), and recommender systems linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with MySpace, Bebo and Facebook being the mostly widely used in 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking

Some statistics Top Sites in the UK Oct 07

2. Facebook

7. YouTube

9. MySpace

11. Bebo

12. Wikipedia

14. Blogger

17. Flickr

http://www.alexa.com

Thank you for listening

Any questions?