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Web 2.1 Brown Bag Notes

By newquisk - Posted on 01 May 2007

What is Web 2.0?

A wave of new Web sites (as well as some not so new ones) that focus on the user experience, focusing primarily through three areas:

  • Socialization: The ability for users to interact with one another, easily sharing collective information.
  • Collaboration: The ability to work on long-distance projects in a variety of ways.
  • Web Services: Almost all Web 2.0 have "Web services" through which they share their information with other sites.

They share a few negative aspects as well:

  • They're public: Web 2.0 sites are social in nature, which means you need to share your information with them (in the hopes that others will share their information with you). Don't share if you don't want your interests to be accessible to anyone.
  • They hold your data: Your photos, documents and preferences reside on their server, not your computer. A hallmark of most of these sites is that they use Web standards, such as XML, so that you can get your data back out, but they still have a copy of it.
  • They use advanced Web technologies: Don't even try them with anything other than the latest versions of Firefox or IE (and sometimes, only Firefox)

* This is my definition of Web 2.0; the more formal definitions (which I link to in the "Web 2.0 References" section) deal more with the technical specifics of what is Web 2.0; I'm talking about the effects)

Terminology

  • Tagging: Using keywords to describe data; rather than try and organize content into folders, individuals "tag" an item with a keyword, and then build lists based on keywords. It's a real-world application of metadata: data used to describe data. Examples: del.icio.us, flickr
  • AJAX: The acronym stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, and provides a useful way to make forms and Web pages feel dynamic and responsive by preloading chunks of information before the user needs them. Examples: Google Local.
  • RSS: Really Simple Syndication is one of the services that web sites use to share information with one another. Example: Bloglines, Technorati

Where are they now?

What's New

  • Twitter:
    • Blogging meets instant messaging. It rRose to prominense in March at South by Southwest film festival as people used it to organize and talk.
    • site: http://www.twitter.com
  • Amie Street
    • A DRM-less music site where all the songs start out free, and their price rises with their popularity, topping out at 99 cents. Recently made headlines when Bare-naked Ladies released their latest album on the site.
    • site: http://amiestreet.com
  • Digg: Not particularly new, but very popular. It's a web site where users pick what news appears on the home page by voting (or "digging") for or against stories. Recently added support for podcasts.
  • Google Docs & Sheets:
    • Google Docs & Sheets lets you create online documents and spreadsheets which you can then share with other people who have Google accounts.
    • Allows you to read and save files in a variety of formats (Word, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML, etc.) and even publish them to your Blogger blog.
    • Integration with other Google apps, like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Pages, remains spotty.
    • site: http://docs.google.com
  • Google Reader
    • Google's entry into the RSS Reader field.
    • Allows you to subscribe to feeds, star favorite stories, and even track stats on your reading habits. You can share entries with friends, and then have those shared items show up on your blog.
    • site: http://www.google.com/reader
  • Remember the Milk
  • Skype
    • A voice over IP service that lets you chat, talk or SMS with friends. Often used for playing online games like Second Life or World of Warcraft. Also popular with podcasters for recording interviews.
    • site: http://www.skype.com
  • Ning:
    • Create your own social networking site within Ning.
    • site: ning.com
  • Kartoo
    • A visual search engine designed to show the relationships between sites and concepts.
    • web: http://www.kartoo.com
  • 360 Voice
  • Yahoo Widgets
    • Desktop mini-apps designed to handle very specific tasks, like displaying news headlines, the weather, or how much memory your computer is consuming.
    • site: http://www.yahoo.com/widgets

 

 

References

"What is Web 2.0?" by Tim O'Reilly

"The Web 2.0 Litmus Test" by Dare Obasanjo

Web 2.0 Random Name Generator

Web 2.0 Validator

Everything Web 2.0

 

Tags
remember the milk widget
Submitted by newquisk on May 3, 2007 - 9:10am.

I just came across a a Mac OS X widget for Remember the Milk that adds your "to do" list to Dashboard. It's pretty basic, allowing you to display a list, but not allowing you to add new tasks.

Get creative