Overview of Web 2.0


Web 2.0 is essentially an increasing range of software that supports a variety of technologies for open and collaborative communication, learning and creativity.



It consits of



1. A Platform

This is browser based - e.g. Internet Explorer or Firefox. (Firefox is preferred because it is free and open software in a constant state of development (Web 2.0), whereas Explorer is owned and comes out in a fixed form and then has updates and upgrades on an irregular basis (Web 1.0))
It operates on open and collaborative principles
Communications are the key applications


2. Social Networking

Personalised and open collaborative knowledge spaces
Access people as well as knowledge
Copyright issues exist and have to be dealt with and replaced with a Creative Commons culture
This is beyond the normal formalities of the classroom and can take place anywhere at any time


3. Read/Write Web

People are consurmers of content and services
People and publishers of content and services
Such people are called Produsers


4. What makes Web 2.0

Blogs
Wikis
Social Tagging - bookmarking, Tag Clouds
Sharing sites
Podcasts
Mashups
Aggregators
Ubiquitous connectivity