Ok, so I've done the reading and watched the YouTube video. I now know that Web 2.0 is all about blogging my little cotton socks off, linking, sharing and generally collaborating with every other online user of the internet. Software is no longer a product to be bought and installed on your PC, it is a service that you subscribe to, and the more of us that use it and give feedback the more effective it becomes.
Web 2.0 applications operate by harnessing our collective intelligence and we advertise them for free by liking, sharing and linking on our other networks. I feel empowered and motivated to participate in building this grand new online landscape.
But wait! There are voices of dissent in this brave new world. Is 'web 2.0' just a buzzword? Are these definitions merely rehashed ideas that permeated the initial creation of the web?
Well, yes and no. These ideas of collaborative sharing were certainly part of the initial vision of the internet, but there can be no denying that the application of this vision has caught up with the idea. It is not a new web, but it is a more developed web. Where the next stage of that development goes will be interesting to see, if anywhere. Perhaps the web has already done the bulk of its evolution and anything that come from now on will be just window dressing?
Hopefully there will be more effective methods for filtering through the boggy mire of detritus. One of the major criticisms of web 2.0 seems to be that it has perpetrated a cult of amateurism, and that it is nigh on impossible to sort the quality from the vast amounts of junk. Still, on the positive side, therein lies an opening for your friendly local teacher librarian to step in with a highly developed set of search skills to light your way.
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