Web 2.0: New definition of web

BANGALORE, INDIA: Web 2.0 is no longer a buzzword or a myth. Since its emergence it has revolutionized the way Web should be used. With the help of technologies like JavaScript, XML, ASP.Net, PHP/Perl, My SQL, etc, it opened different avenues for various software companies and gave the Web a different way of handling data. It took its time to find its belonging, but now is among the hottest trends to look out for. It's already creating a huge roar in the enterprise segment after being a success story on the commercial and social front.

What makes it hot?

It literally took the 'tech' out of 'technology' and made a common platform for all of us to collaborate, share, and interact. A layman can post his views in a Blog without having to know a single word of HTML. Now users can not only access data but also contribute to it. This Rich Internet Architecture for using the Web in a participatory manner has caused the corporate world to pay so much attention to it. So much so that this year, most of the corporate world was trying to figure out how to integrate Web 2.0 features within their own Intranets and portals.

There are endless ways through which an enterprise can leverage the power of Web 2.0---integrating applications in a web browser, allowing users to modify content in real time, allowing multiple users to interact, aggregating content from other sites into your own, hosting desktops on the Web, providing online videos, audioblogging, webinars, blogging are just a few possibilities that come to mind.

Key technologies

Technologies such as AJAX, Flex, Meshup, Atom, Podcast, XML, Javascripts, RSS Feed, Wiki, P2P, and Blog form the backbone of Web 2.0. AJAX enables the exchange of small amount of data with the server behind the scene, making the webpage more responsive and thus avoiding the entire webpage from reloading during a refresh. The main programming language is JavaScript wherein AJAX functions are made and with the use of XML the data which is asynchronously retrieved and kept are formatted.

So when you log into your Gmail account, you would notice it to be refreshed after a particular interval without actually loading the whole page all over again, it just asynchronously checks for new data. The biggest advantage is that this is a cross-platform technology, hence can be used across various OSs, Computer Architectures, and Web browsers.

Mash-up is a value-added service source from a third party, which is to be integrated into a Web application. It sources the content from a third party via a public interface or API. Mash-ups opened up new avenues for the enterprise as it renders interoperability and can also be used to source content from disparate Web Services. Podcast made audio blogging a reality. It is mainly a digital media file or collection of such files which can be distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and PCs.

Wiki even though existed for a long time is now an important knowledge sharing platform. On the hardware front the emergence of Broadband and storage becoming cheaper played a big part on the success of Web 2.0. All these have made up what Web 2.0 is all about.

Latest developments

The big news in Web 2.0 this year was that most major software vendors introduced Web 2.0 technologies in their current and future products. Enterprises started leveraging this technology in many creative ways. So things like allowing your customers who are visiting your e-commmerce portal to interact with your staff members is now possible. Some use Podcasts, Webinars, and Blogs as marketing tools on their sites. Some use Mash-up, RSS Feed, and Atoms to get the right information to the right people. Many SaaS model-based applications are now being developed to be used as a Web application.

Second Life

It threw up new business opportunities for various verticals, as enterprises can use the platform to collaborate, do research and conceptualization, do prototyping and promote their brand, and also communicate in a completely different manner. With enterprises focusing more and more on collaboration and automation of all their branches, this will open a new mode of collaboration and communication medium. Still in its initial days this will surely become a trend to look out for and will take Web beyond Web 2.0.

The journey beyond Web 2.0

The future looks challenging and bright, with more opportunities being created and demand coming in from various quarters for added functionalities. We are looking toward a future where we will witness a better Web 2.0 platform with utility of serious applications, while retaining all the power of a simple Web delivery that a JavaScript + HTML based UI offers.

Soon we will have browser versions which will have offline support for AJAX Web applications. We may also see some level of automated artificial intelligence routines that manage various aspects of our digital life. It won't be a surprise to see a Web-based calendar application that intelligently arranges the schedules based on inputs from other's calendars minus any inputs from the user himself.

There is lot of talk about Semantic Web, which is supposed to draw sense out of data in a meaningful and impactful manner. Also, semantic Web developers are releasing a new XML format, which supposedly would be the final step to the completion of Web 3.0. All the more technology offerings like a deductive calculator can solve arbitrary problems using the math knowledge encoded in the Web. So we are moving toward the world where computers will be capable of understanding information and performing tedious tasks such as finding, sharing, and combining on the Web.

Some key technologies that will drive the future of Web are RDF (Resource Description Framework), a simple language for expressing data models which eventually refer to object and their relationship and OWL (Web Ontology Language) which adds more vocabulary for describing properties and classes as well as relationship between classes, characteristic of properties, etc.

A key development in the Web space is the emergence of Second life. Some big enterprises are using an interface with Second life which allows customers to visualize their potential purchases alongside their property. Second Life, a 3D online digital world since its emergence has given a new dimension to human visualization. It is mainly a 3D virtual world where users can interact with each other through motion avatars providing advanced levels of social network services in an environment where people interact (via their avatars) with one another in cyber space which use metaphors of the real world minus its physical limitations.



The reason why it is so widely talked and discussed is because of the huge business opportunity it has created for enterprises and software developers. Web has never been so interactive before: ask the young brigades about Orkut, YouTube, or Flickr and you would know how much impact it has made on their daily lives. Now Web is more a platform for interactivity than a static source of information.