Dopp Juice Archive

I’ve heard this term flying around lately. “We’re going to start a Web 2.0 venture.” “This is a Web 2.0 site.” After some research on a popular public knowledge base, it’s clear that there is no clear definition for Web 2.0. Just a feeling that people want to express in a techie-language way. The internet as we knew it five years ago (aka “Web 1.0”), was a collection of flat, unchanging html pages that shared information. You didn’t subcribe to them for constant news updates. You didn’t use them as networking tools. You we’re able to get work done on those pages. You just read what the sites had to say and surfed on. Now, that’s all changing. The internet as we know it today (aka “Web 2.0”) thrives on connections and constantly updated information. We reference and cross-reference. If site doesn’t update at least once a week, we forget about it. It’s a dinosaur. We want instant gratification and voices ringing in our ears from 20 million places. We want to internet to replace our desktop applications so everything can be stored in connection with everything else. We want what’s new today, and we want it for free (or least, for cheap). The web browser is the new workplace. So when you hear the words “Web 2.0,” don’t freak out and think you need to upgrade your internet service provider. The information superhighway isn’t rerouting you to another system. It’s just constantly under construction, and constantly offering new ways to do things. For a more complete “definition,” check out Danah Boyd‘s take on the mysterious phrase.