APPLICATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF WEB 2.0

APPLICATIONS AND CHARACTERISTIC OF WEB 2.0.

Talking about the advances that have erupted rapidly in the 21^st century in the technology.
There was another great advance and that was the birth of web that is the World Wide Web (www).in the early 1990’s. (Whithead, Taylor et al 1994). Researches carried on in this sector and the simple architecture and the open standards of the web has been transformed or grown into a vast distributed, diverse information and application platform. It is the current phase of the web that we are experiencing.

This new advent is known as Web 2.0. It is basically a revolutionary way of gathering, organizing and sharing of information. It has gain considerable importance in todays society.
It can be said as a renewal, or a new generation all together of the internet where the user’s content has a central place.

Osimo and Burgelman (2007) states “Web 2.0 is about both technology and attitude”. Miller (2005) described Web 2.0 as follows: “Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices”

Now let us discuss and also compare the various characteristics of the Web 2.0

Web 2.0 applications have generic character, i.e not specified to a particular topic or area .An example of such an application is Google Earth.

Applications of web 2.0 also have specific character i. e specified to a particular topic like for example tfl.gov.uk which is specified for the transport and the routes in London only.

It also shows static as well as dynamic characteristics.

Static characteristics of the Web 2.0 can be well described with the example of You tube where one can view songs or even self made movies or videos that are uploaded by other users .Dynamic characteristic is well described by Yahoo messenger where one can live chat and also exchange pictures and documents from users .

Another application characteristic that is supported by Frissen (2008) is the closed environment characteristic of the Web 2.0 .An example is orkut.com which has a feature of hiding your scrapbook or your pictures from being viewed by other people.

Open environment is also another characteristic where there is an open environment where people can have access freely .An example is the Namedatabase.com where you can search for people by typing their names.

There is another characteristic of the Web 2.0 that is applications can be personal .An example is the blog, I created for publishing my articles and also sharing my personal viewpoint with others. This characteristic is supported by Wyld (2007).

Now let us also discuss about the way in which Web 2.0 is useful for the people.

It can be used to share and exchange information.

It can also be used to inform people about something.

It can also be used as a virtual medium to meet each other virtually .an example is Second Life.

It is also used nowadays for shopping online .an example is ebay .com

It is also being used for gambling and betting .an example is betfair.com

Now let us take an example of Web 2.0

Podcasting: It is basically is a two word concept merged into one .Pod comes from Apples ipod whereas Casting comes from broadcasting, which basically means sending a radio signal. (Ormond, 2008).

It can be used by anyone having a microphone and an internet connection so that one can download audio files that could be downloaded by other users.

Example: Announcement made in hospitals regarding a drug that is needed or is out of stock.

Uses Of Podcasting: There are various uses of podcasting such as

It is being used for additional support in teaching and learning

For eg : taped lectures ,group presentations .

It can prove to be a help for students in pronouncing foreign languages by listening to the podcasted audio files.

Nowadays tourist attractions and also some of the museums are using podcasting .It is being used an electronic guides for the visitors.

There are also some benefits of podcasting such as

It enables users to perform other primary task while consuming audio content.

Typically users consume audio content on a mobile Mp3 or directly from the browser, both of these ways enables multitask opportunity for the users. (Owyang, 2006).

It is also beneficial for slow readers or pupil willing to learn via audio.

Refernces :

1: Anderson, K. M., Taylor, R. N., and Whitehead, E. J. 1994. Chimera: hypertext for heterogeneous software environments. ACM Hypertext , pg 94-107.

2: Osimo, D., and Burgelman,J.C. 2007, Web 2.0 for e-Government Why and How, 4^th Ministerial e-Government Conference,Lisbon (presentation),.

3: Miller, P. 2005, Web 2.0: Building the New Library”, Ariadne, No. 45.

4: Frissen, V., et al. 2007, Naar een ‘User Generated State’? TNO, Delft,.

5: Wyld, D.C., 2007,The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0, IBM Center for The Business of Government, Washington (E-Government Series),.

6:Ormand.P ,2008,Podcasting Enhances Learning. Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges.

7: Owyang, J. 2006., Podcasting can be an ambient medium http://jeremiahthewebprophet.blogspot.com/2006/06/podcasting-can-be-ambient-medium.html.