Evolution of Web 2.0

What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 refers to the second generation interactive internet based services and it is an emerging catch phrase and the applications associated with it shocked the traditional eLearning world (1). The usage of web 2.0 technologies covers a wide range of technologies and contexts and there is no specific definition for web 2.0, it is generally known as the upgrade version of web 1.0, web 2.0 establishes a social networking environment through the use of Blogs, Wikis and podcasting and helps the individuals to contribute the knowledge they have and thus it can be beneficial for everyone.

According to Tim O’ Reilly (2005) Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. He also noted that 2.0 refers to the historical context of web business coming back after the collapse of dot com bubble.

On the other hand Hinchcliffe’s (2006) says that “Web 2.0 is made of people” and he also adds further by giving in more detailed description about this web 2.0 technologies, he says that the Architecture of participation encourages user contribution in Web 2.0, and also it has Rich and interactive user interfaces.

There are many web based services and applications which give a clear idea about the foundation of web 2.0 concept and these are not technologies as such but are services built using the building blocks of the technologies and open standards that underpin the internet and web (Anderson, 2007) and the key applications of web 2.0 include Blogs, Wikis, podcasting, and RSS. Web 2.0 is easy to use, and secondly everything is done in real time and lastly it is people to people so these are some special features which make the users get attracted to it.


Blogs and Wikis are fundamentally 2.0, and their global proliferation has enormous implications for libraries. Blogs may indeed be an even greater milestone in the history of publishing than web-pages. They enable the rapid production and consumption of Web-based publications (Maness, 2006). Blogs are generally a way of communication where there is transfer of knowledge and Wikis are the webpages where we can access and edit all the information.

RSS provide users a way to syndicate and republish content on the Web. Users republish content from other sites or blogs on their sites or blogs, aggregate content on other sites in a single place (Maness, 2006). It allows us to update the information. And on the other hand Podcasting allows us to audio messages such as conferences, lectures and we can listen to them whenever we want (Anderson,2006).

Importance of Web 2.0 in organizations:

Organizations have been able to use web 2.0 in a very effective way as it helps the people working in organizations to share their ideas, opinions and also the creativity they have, and web 2.0 helps the organizations to achieve their goals by providing them with the technologies that helps in interacting with each other and they not only interact within the organization but they also interact wit the customers and also the suppliers and thus helps the organization to improve their quality of products.

I can explain it with an example, using podcasting the company for which I used to work before used to record the important conferences that were held in the head office and then they used to transmit them so that the some of employers can view them in their media devices. This was very much useful in the transfer of knowledge.

According to (Anderson, 2007) Even Social networking websites serve in Knowledge transfer by connecting different people with different backgrounds or ethnicity at a place. All these people can interact and discuss on a topic of their interest and share their knowledge with others. In orkut, Hi5 and facebook there are various communities where the interested individual can join and can share and exchange knowledge with the other individuals who are interested in the same topic and thus the process of knowledge transfer is done.

Blogging is very much useful in transferring the knowledge, Blogs really are very useful tool to share knowledge, and this can be explained with a common example, as a part of our course we have been asked to create Blogs and this was a very useful step as it allowed me to share the knowledge with other students and also got the feedbacks from the students, module leaders and had a chance to rectify the mistakes that I had in my postings and also gained some knowledge by visiting others Blogs and this helped all the students to exchange their opinions and ideas and enabling us to transfer the knowledge

On the conclusion note I can say that the Web 2.0 technologies are very useful in knowledge management as it allows us to share the knowledge and as a result of that knowledge is transferred, these technologies are useful for all the organizations and educational institutions, it also allows everyone to share knowledge through social networks sites and thus knowledge is being shared and it is very effective and useful for people who are interested in sharing their knowledge.


References:

1. O'Reilly, T., "Web 2.0: Compact Definition?", O'Reilly Radar blog, 1 October 2005 http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2005/10/web_20_compact_definition.html
2. Martin Ebner, Andreas Holzinger, Herman Maurer, Web 2.0 technology web services journal http://www.springerlink.com/content/hrp354g32831g2qx/fulltext.pdf?page=1 retrieved on 30th march, 2009.
3. Dion Hinchcliffe (2006). "The State of Web 2.0". Web Services Journal. http://web2.wsj2.com/the_state_of_web_20.htm. Retrieved on 31st march 2009.
4. Paul Anderson (2007), what is web 2.0? retrieved on 31st march, 2009 from website http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/techwatch/tsw0701b.pdf
5. Wikipedia retrieved on 30th march, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
6. Jack M. Maness (2006), “Library 2.0 Theory: Web 2.0 and Its Implications for Libraries”, MLS, University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries.