SEMINAR REPORT REPORT WEB 2.0 2006-2010 BATCH BATCH Semester VII
submitted by
JESSIL UMMER C A
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTESCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
VISWAJYOTHI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY, MUVATTUPUZHA
ABSTRACT Web 2.0 2.0 is a term describing changing trends in the use of of World Wide Wide Web technology technology and web design design that aims to enhance creativity creativity,, information information sharing, sharing, and collaboration collaboration among users. users.
These
concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies. The term became notable after
the
first O'Reilly Media Web
2.0
conference
in
2004. Although
the
term
sugges suggests ts a new version version of the the World orld Wide ide Web, it does does not not refer refer to an upd update ate to any technica technicall specifications, but to changes in the ways ways software software developers developers and end- users utilize utilize the Web. Basically, Basically, the term ter m encapsulates the idea of the proliferation of interconnectivity and social interactions on the Web. Tim O'Reilly regards Web 2.0 as business embracing the web as a platform and using its strengths. The features that encompasses the essence of Web 2.0 are building applications and services around the unique features of the Internet, as opposed to building applications and expecting the Internet to suit suit as a platform. platform. Web Web 2.0 websites allow users to do do more than just retrieve information. They can build on the interactive facilities of "Web "Web 1.0" to provide "Network as platform" computing, allowing users to run software applications entirely through a browser.
While Web 2.0 technologies are difficult to define precisely, the outline of emerging applications has become clear over the past year. We can thus essentially view Web 2.0 as semantic Web technologies integrated into, or powering, large-scale Web applications. The base of Web 2.0 applications resides in the resource description framework (RDF) for providing a means to link data from multiple Web sites or databases. With the SPARQL query language, a SQL-like standard for querying RDF data, applications applications can use native graph-based RDF stores and extract RDF data from traditional databases.
1. INTRODUCTION Wikiped Wikipedia ia defines Web Web 2.0 as “ a term describing describing changing changing trends in the use of World World Wide Wide Web Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, creativity, information
sharing,
and
collaboration
among users.” There is huge amount of disagreement among internet experts on what Web 2.0 is and how the term is defined. Some say that Web 2.0 is a set of philosophies and practices that provide Web users users with with a deep deep and rich experi experienc ence. e. Others Others say it's a new collect collection ion of applic applicati ations ons and and technologies that make it easier for people to find information and connect with one another online. A few journalists maintain that the term doesn't mean anything at all, it's just a marketing ploy used to hype social networking sites. The Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies. The term became notable after the first O'Reilly Media Web Web 2.0 conference in i n 2004. O'Reilly Media is an American media company company establish established ed
by
Tim O'Reilly O'Reilly
that
publishes publishes
books books
and
web
sites sites
and
produces conferences on computer technology topics. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users utilize the Web. Web. According to Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly, “Web “Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that that new platform.” O'Reilly Media publisher publisher Dale Dougherty coined the phrase Web 2.0. Some
technology experts,
notably Tim Berners-Lee, Berners-Lee,
have questioned whether one can use the
term in any meaningful way, way, since many of the technology components of Web Web 2.0 have existed since the early days of the Web.In September 2005, Tim O'Reilly posted posted a blog entry entry that defined Web 2.0. The explanati explanation on spanned spanned five pages of
text and graphics graphics illustrat illustrating ing O'Reilly' O'Reilly'ss take take on what the term
meant. O'Reilly's philosophy of Web 2.0 included these ideas •
Using the Web as an applications platform
•
Democratizing the Web
•
Employing new methods to distribute information
Web 2.0 websi websites tes allow allow users users to do more more than than just just retrie retrieve ve inform informati ation. on. They can build build on interactive facilities of
the
"Web "Web 1.0" to provide "Network as platform" computing, allowing users to
run software-app software-applicat lications ions entirely entirely through through a browser browser.. Users can own the data on a Web 2.0 site and exercise control over that data. These sites may have an "Architecture of participation" that encourages users to add value to the application as they use it. This stands in contrast to very old traditional websites, the sort which limited visitors to viewing and whose content only the site's owner could modify. Web 2.0 sites often feature a rich, user-friendly interface based on Ajax,openlaszlo,
Flex
or
similar
rich
media. The sites may also have social-networking social-networking aspects. The O'Reilly Media Web site is a prime example of Web 2.0 at work.
The concept of Web-as-participation Web-as-participation-platform -platform captures many of these characteristics. Bart Decrem, a founder and former CEO of Flock, calls Web 2.0 the "participatory Web" and regards the Web-asinformation-source as Web 1.0. The impossibility of excluding group-members who don’t contribute to the provision of goods from sharing profits gives rise to the possibility that rational members will prefer to withhold their contribution of effort and free-ride on the contribution of others. The characteristics characteristics of Web 2.0 2.0 are: rich user experience, experience, user user participation, participation, dynamic content, metadata, web
standards standards,,
scalabili scalability ty,,
openness, openness,
freedom freedom
and collectiv collectivee intellig intelligence ence by way of user
participa participation tion – all should be viewed as essential essential attributes attributes of Web Web 2.0. In fact web 1.0 came into existence after the evolution of web 2.0. In
alluding
to
the
version-numbers that
commonly
designate
software upgrades, the phrase
"Web 2.0" hints at an improved form of the World Wide Web. Technologies such as weblogs, wikis, podcasts podcasts,, RSS feeds (and other other forms of many-to-m many-to-many any publishi publishing), ng),
social social
software, software,
and web
application programming programming interfaces (APIs) provide enhancements enhancements over read-only websites. websites. The idea of "Web 2.0" can also relate to a transition of some websites from isolated information silos to interlinked computing platforms that function like locally-available software in the perception of the user. Web 2.0 also includes a social social element element where where users users generate generate and distribute content, often with freedom to share and re-use. This can result in a rise in the economic value of the web to businesses, as users can perform more activities online. 2. WEB 2.0 PHILOSOPHY 2.1 Web as a Platform
In the blog entry that described his philosophy of Web 2.0, Tim O'Reilly wrote that before the dotcom
bubble
burst,
Web
companies
like
Netscape concentrated on providing a product.
In
Netscape's case, the product was a Web browser. browser. These products would then serve as the foundation for a suite suite of of applicati applications ons and and other other products products.. O'Reilly' O'Reilly'ss vision vision of of a Web Web 2.0 company company is one one that provides a service rather than a product. The example example O'Rei O'Reilly lly used used in his blog entry entry was was Google. Google. He said said that Googl Google's e's value value comes comes from several factors: ● It's a multi-platform service. You can access Google on a PC or Mac (using a Web browser) or on a mobile device like a cell phone. ● It avoids the business model established by the software industry. You don't need to buy a particular software package to use the service. ● It includes a specialized database of information -- search results -- that seamlessly works with its search engine software. Without Without the database, the search
application is worthless. On
the other hand, without the search application, the database is too large to navigate. Another Another important important part part of using the the Web Web as a platform platform is designing designing what what O'Reilly O'Reilly calls calls
rich user user
experiences. These are applications and applets, the small programs that fit within a larger l arger program or Web page,
to make Web surfing and accessing the Internet more enjoyable. For example,
the
service Twitter Twitter provides is based off of a very simple concept, members can send a message to an entire network of friends using a simple interface. But Twitter also allows third-party developers to access part of the Twitter Twitter application programming interface(API). This access allows them to make new applications based off the basic features features of Twitter Twitter.. For example, Twitterific is a program program for the Mac designed designed by a third-party developer called the Iconfactory. Iconfactory. It integrates the Twitter Twitter service into a desktop application for users. While Twitter didn't develop Twitterific, it did give the Iconfactory the information it needed to create the application. Other sites follow a similar philosophy. In 2007, the social networking site Facebook gave third-party developers access to its API. Before long, hundreds of new applications appeared, using Facebook as a platf platform. orm. Facebo Facebook ok member memberss can choose choose from from dozen dozenss of appli applicat cation ionss to enhanc enhancee their their browsi browsing ng experiences. 2.2 Democratization of Web
Web democratization refers to the way people access and contribute to the Internet. Many early Web pages were static, static, with no way for users to to add to or interact with the information. information. In some ways, ways, many companies companies thought thought of the Internet Internet as an extension extension of televisio television n -- browsers would would look passively passively at whatever content the Web provided. Other companies had different ideas, though. For example, Amazon allowed visitors to create accounts and submit book reviews. Anyone could play the role of a literary crit critic ic..
Befo Before re long long,,
othe otherr
cust custom omer erss were were usin using g
thes thesee
revi review ewss
to help help
them them
decide what books to buy buy.. Amazon's members were helping to shape the browsing browsing experience. The Web 2.0 philosophy emphasizes the importance of people's interactions with the Internet. Everyone has an opportunity to contribute to the Web. Web. And, by paying attention to what users are looking for and doing doing online, a company company can provide better service and build customer
loyalty. loyalty. Some Web
pages absolutely depend upon user contributions -- without them, there'd be no Web site. Wikis are a good example of this. Users can enter information, modify existing data or even delete entire sections in wikis. Ultimately, Ultimately, the people who visit the Web site determine what it contains and how it looks. The Amazon Web site represents some Web 2.0 concepts in features like its customer book reviews. Tim O'Reilly wrote about the importance of harnessing collective intelligence. He stated that the Web sites that are shaped by user contributions will evolve into more superior destinations than other sites. He cited Wikipedia Wikipedia as
the perfect perfect example. O'Reilly felt that that the community of informed informed users
could monitor and maintain the site. However, since anyone can contribute information to Wikipedia, a perso person n could could submit submit incorre incorrect ct informat information ion either either by accident accident or on purpos purpose. e. There's There's no way guarantee
the
accuracy
of
the
information,
and
you
can't
hold
to
anyone responsible for
submitting incorrect information. Another element of Web democratization is the tag. Web tags are labels that allow users to associate information with particular topics. Many sites allow users to apply tags to information ranging from uploaded images to blog entries. Tags become important when people use search engines. Users can tag their information with with search terms, and and when another user user enters a search term that matches matches the tag, tag, that information will be listed as a search result. result. Tagging data makes makes searching searching for information faster and more efficient. User-contributed tags are a part of folksonomy, folksonomy, a classification system on the Web. The last piece of the democratization puzzle is open source software. An open source program is one in which the programmer programmer allows anyone to to look at the code he or she she used to create the the application. And you can do more than just look.
Some may allow you to modify the code to make it more efficient or even to create a new program using the original code as a foundation. Ideally, an open source program will receive the best quality assurance testing available because anyone can examine and test it. 2.3. Distributing Information. Before the dot-com crash, many Web pages featured pictures and text that the Web page administrators rarely updated. As Web editing software became more user-friendly, user-friendly, changes more
often.
Some
it
became
easier
to make
companies continued to present information in a static, non-interactive
way, way, but a few began to experiment with new ways of distributing information. One One new way was to use Web syndicati syndication on formats formats
like Really Simple Simple Syndicatio Syndication n
(RSS). With With RSS, users
could could
subscribe to a Web page and receive updates whenever the administrator for that page made any
changes. changes.
Some programmer programmerss desig designed ned applicati applications ons that created created RSS readers readers on PC or Mac
desktops, which meant users could check on updates for their favorite Web sites without even opening a Web browser. Technorati is a Web site that tracks and catalogs blogs. Another way of sharing information informa tion on the Web came as a surprise to many people: blogs. While people have created personal Web pages since the early days of of the Web, Web, the blog format format is very different from the traditional traditional personal Web page. For one one thing, most blogs are organized chronologically, so it's possible for a reader to see the most recent entry, then go back into archives and follow the blog's progression from start to finish. Blogs are a good way to get information out to readers fast. People read blogs, see things that interest them and write about it in their own blogs. Information begins to spread f rom one blogger to another. another. Marketing firms call this blogto-blog method of transmitting information viral marketing. Many companies are looking into ways to use viral marketing to to their advantage advantage -- it's both both powerful advertising and and inexpensive inexpensive because the targeted targeted audience does most of the work for you. Web pages like blogs rely on the use of permalinks. Permalinks are hypertext links links that connect to a specific blog blog entry. entry. Without Without permalinks, discussing discussing blog entries would become a tedious process. All links would lead the user to the main blog page, which may have been been updated updated since since the link link was first first created. created. Permalink Permalinkss allow allow users to anchor anchor a pathway pathway to a specific blog entry. entry. If you see a particularly fascinating fascinating discussion discussion on a blog, you can use a permalink to guide your friends there to read up on the subject. Another key concept
to Web 2.0 is
the incorporation of non-computer devices into the Internet.
Many cell phones and PDAs P DAs now have some level of Internet connectivity, connectivity, and Apple's iTunes application application integrates smoothly with iPods. O'Reilly cites the expansion of Internet services beyond computers as another example of how the Web is evolving.
OVERVIEW
The Web is entering a new phase of evolution. There has been much debate recently about what to call this new phase. Some would prefer to not name it all, while others suggest continuing to call it "Web 2.0". However, this new phase of evolution has quite a different focus
from
what
Web
2.0
has
come
to
http://novaspivack.typepad.com/RadarNetworksTowardsAWebOS.jpg
3. WEB 1.0 3.1 Definition
mean.
Web 1.0 is a retronym which refers to the state of the World Wide Web, and website design style before the Web Web 2.0 phenomenon, and included most websites in the period per iod between 1994 and 2004. For the most part websites were a strictly one-way published media, similar to the Gopher protocol that ca me before it. Personal Personal web pages were common common in Web 1.0, consisti consisting ng of mainly mainly static static pages pages
hosted hosted
on
free
hosting services such as Geocities, nowadays dynamically generated blogs and social networking profiles are more popular, often keeping real-time statistics and allowing for readers to comment on posts. At the Technet Technet Summit Summit in November November 2006, Reed Hastings, Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix, stated stated a simple formula for defining the phases of the Web, “ Web 1.0 was dial-up, 50K average bandwidth, Web 2.0 is an average 1 megabit of bandwidth and Web Web 3.0 will will be 10 megabits megabits of bandwidth bandwidth all all the time, which will be the full video Web, Web, and that will feel like Web Web 3.0. ” Typical Typical design design elements elements of a Web Web 1.0 site included: •
Static pages instead of dynamically generated content.
•
The use of framesets.
•
Proprietary HTML extensions
such as the