technologies

 

Web 2.0 technologies

There is no clear definition for Web 2.0 and it has been used to describe a very wide variety of different things. According to Wikipedia (1) the term was first introduced by Darcy diNucci in 1999 in her article ”Fragmented Future”. The term seems to have gained popularity, however, in 2004 after the first Web 2.0 conference hosted by O’Reilly Media and MediaLive. The opening marks by John Battelle and Tim O’Reilly are often mentioned as the start of a wider use of the term. Web 2.0 refers to the internet as an engaging venue (as opposed to the static nature of Web 1.0, which was mainly used to distribute content). O’Reilly (2007) himself defines Web 2.0 as a platform. Web 2.0 is based on the internet users participating in the creation or sharing of information and any other content in the internet by using different web based applications. The users of Web 2.0 are not just searching for information and reading what is there. They are actively taking part: users create user profiles or accounts, they comment on the things they read, they create their own platforms for sharing their ideas and knowledge, companies try to engage their customers to gain more publicity and also more and more to get their customers’ help in e.g. product development. Governments use Web 2.0 to engage citizens in democratic processes (and to improve the legitimacy of democracy) and companies use Web 2.0 both in their external and internal communications and knowledge management. Through crowdsourcing new ways of doing business and earning money have also emerged. (Wikipedia 1; Dye 2007; Beal 2014; Aitamurto 2012; Anderson 2007, 5-6. O’Reilly 2007, 18.)

There are a few key features, which are listed as characteristics for Web 2.0: