Web 2.0 – Next Big Thing
| Web developers, designers, bloggers, and even major media outlets have been abuzz with talk of “Web 2.0″ this year. Though the term bears the familiar version number so often attached to software products, it doesn’t actually refer to any one technology. Rather, Web 2.0 is the moniker for an emerging set of Internet-based tools and an emerging philosophy on how to use them. |
| Many people—including, or perhaps especially, supporters—critique the “Web 2.0” moniker for definitional reasons. Few can agree on even the general outlines of Web 2.0. It is about no single new development. Moreover, the term is often applied to a heterogeneous mix of relatively familiar and also very emergent technologies. The former may appear as very much “Web 1.0,” and the latter may be seen as too evanescent to be relied on for serious informatics work. Indeed, one leading exponent of this movement deems continuous improvement to be a hallmark of such projects, which makes pinning down their identities even more difficult.1 Yet we can survey the ground traversed by Web 2.0 projects and discussions in order to reveal a diverse set of digital strategies with powerful implications for higher education.2 Ultimately, the label “Web 2.0” is far less important than the concepts, projects, and practices included in its scope. |
| Indeed, some Web 2.0 features have been around for years, such as eBay feedback, which allows buyers to rate sellers on their customer service. Another is Amazon.com’s reader book reviews and the suggestions the company gives to visitors based on what others with similar interests have purchased. |
| The term Web 2.0 was actually coined a couple of years ago by executives of O’Reilly Media, a publishing company that also helps organize technology conferences (including the Web 2.0 Conference, held annually in San Francisco). It was meant to describe Web sites emerging from the ashes of the technology industry’s recent collapse. |
| Every nonprofit has stories to tell, and yours is no exception whether the stories are about people who receive services from your programs, volunteer experiences, or ways others are impacted by your work. One way to get those stories out to the world is to publish them on a blog. |
| Short for “Web logs,” blogs are online journals created by an individual or an organization and cover topics ranging from human rights to fashion and everything in between. |
| ogs are a great example of how emerging voices are not only being heard but amplified. By reading and discussing each other’s posts, bloggers form a massive network that is able to exert pressure on national media and, increasingly, on policy makers as well. |
| Blog postings, typically updated daily, can include images, photos, links, video, audio, or simple text. The postings are archived by date and sometimes by category or by author. Permanent links, or “permalinks,” allow other bloggers and Web site owners to link directly to a specific post on your blog and encourage inter-blog dialog. Digg, the technology news site, operates like a popularity contest. Individuals nominate articles from various news sources to appear on the Web site. Articles that generate the most votes from users become the top headlines. No editors are involved. |
| In keeping with many of its Web 2.0 brethren, Digg’s visitors can create profiles and leave comments, creating a mini community. Since its founding two years ago, Digg’s popularity has blossomed. In December, it had 698,000 online visitors, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, challenging Slashdot, a veteran in the technology news arena that had 1.27 million visitors during the same period. |
| What’s accelerated Web 2.0 ideals more recently are new technologies. Implementing the movement’s basic principles is less expensive and easier than it was several years ago because of the evolution of data storage and software, plus the wider adoption of high-speed Internet connections by consumers. |
| Ajax, a kind of software that makes Web site features faster to use, is a staple of Web 2.0 companies. So too is RSS, a technology behind online news feeds. |
| In any case, some say the definition of Web 2.0 has expanded so that almost every Web site can qualify. Even some supporters agree the meaning has become diluted. |
| “It’s almost like the dot-com generation if you suddenly had dot-com in your name, your valuation was 10 times higher,” said Yahoo’s Horowitz. “Now, if you have a photo-sharing site, so what? But you have a Web 2.0 sharing site, and then it gets a lot of buzz.” |
| Web 2.0 tools are important, but their impact goes much deeper than their gadget-y novelty might suggest. Individuals and organizations alike are finding new and increasingly effective ways of connecting through Web 2.0 technology. This is the human side of this technical transformation. |
| Even the smallest organization has a story to share and voices to amplify. Web 2.0 can help you be heard. This new Web of connections is already allowing nonprofit supporters to build movements for social, environmental, economic, and political change. Don’t let your movement leave you behind. |
