What+is+web+2.0?

Scott:
I think a little bit history lesson is in order here. The concept of the web is not new. In fact it was first "envisioned" in 1943 by Vannevar Bush in a Atlantic Monthly article "As we may think" Dr Bush proposed a "Memex" machine that would associate a large library documents by embedded associative links. Over the years this idea was built upon in 1960 by Ted Nelson of the Xanadu project and Bill Atkinson, who created HyperCard for Apple computers in the 1980s. Finally in 1989, [|Tim Berners Lee] invented the necessary computer and network technology to allow for the distribution and linking of documents stored across a world wide network, the internet, and the World Wide Web was born.

The first "version" of the web was very static -- while documents could link to one another, the "price of admission" was relatively high, requiring both networking technology and knowledge to actually serve information. The average user could browse the growing web of information with web browsers such as "Mosaic", which later became Netscape Navigator. Still the amount of interactivity was low. The user was necessarily a passive consumer of information.

Then in the mid 1990s, things became to slowly change with new technologies such as bulletin board or forums arriving. It started to become possible that webpages and websites could "grow" with user provided content. The explosion started to really happen about 3-4 years ago with the ability easily publish pages, and journals and to collaboratively work on information online.

Enough of the history -- what is the Web 2.0. I personally dislike the term "2.0", it is used to describe a new "phase" of network use that has, depending on who you talk to several technologies, characteristics, but I would like to limit it to two clear attributes: > Some people call it the "Democratic" web because it takes the control of the creation and distribution of content away from centralized corporations or agencies and places that control directly in the hands of individuals. In otherwords "By the people, for the people, between the people." > Collaboration between individuals in the same room is common place, but collaboration between people across time and place is more difficult. In the classroom this is the real power of the the network techonologies. (but more about this in the pedagogy section.)
 * **Decentralized publication**
 * **Distributed construction**

Sharon
While Scott provides a more technical definition and history of web 2.0 (a label that was given //a posteriori// rather than //a priori// to the set of tools and environments that make up the interactive Internet), I am going to provide a definition more suitable for non-techie educators.

Web 2.0 is sometimes called the **"Read Write Web"**. I call it the **"Read, Write, Speak, Listen Web"**. It is an Internet that is no longer about passive viewing and linking. It is an Internet where we are all creators and producers of content that we have uploaded for a potentially global audience.

These are exciting times for educators. Never before have we had so many resources and applications available to us that are often **free**, **easy to access** and, most importantly, **easy to use**.

The joke about this newest version of the Internet is the good news, bad news dig. The good news - anyone can upload content to share with the world; the bad news - anyone can upload content to share with the world.

Web 2.0 tools and environments take advantage of web programming that is now able to **separate form from content**. Michael Wesch, a professor of Cultural Anthropology, demonstrates this in his video on youtube, //**The Machine is Us/ing Us:**//

media type="youtube" key="NLlGopyXT_g"

We educators no longer need to know code to upload our content - and, more importantly, our students' content to the web. The focus can now be put on the **quality of meaningful content** rather than fiddly code and finding server space.

And yes, we have to rethink a few things - copyright, literacy, governance, authorship, authority, ... ourselves.