Description and evaluation of Web 2.0 or Web 3.0 applications:

Fourth Blog Entry -- Week of July 20th

Boy have we come a long way in a short time. I remember when I bought my first digital camera. I was debating if I really needed 3 mega pixels, and now, cell phone cameras have this technology. The web used to be so scary. You could find information in just a matter of moments while the Internet searched, well, everything for an answer. It would spit out a list and it took moments. Wow, were we amazed.

Over the years, the Internet has been developed and has gotten quicker and quicker. With technology getting more and more accessible, more and more companies, shops, families, etc. have become more and more tech-savvy. What could possibly happen next?

Welcome to Web 2.0. Web 2.0 has taken your standard, run-of-the-mill Internet and made it social. It used to be that searching the internet was a singular activity. You did it, the information retrieved was on your screen you could print it and then you could share it with someone else. Now, you can type something on a site, and then anyone who wants to (or you allow) can view what you said (Facebook), look at your bookmarked URL collection (delicious.com), see pictures you took (snapfish.com), and more.

Web 2.0 is community based. It allows user interaction, construction of virtual communities, and exchanges between users and the user’s community of fellow users.

Although I have not read it, Lines, by Seth Godin, Web 2.0 has leveled the playing field within our world. Because of this social computing we now have, people can become leaders in their social networking arenas. Since this technology is available worldwide, people with high-powered jobs can continue to strengthen their thoughts, following, and extend their power to people over the Internet. The same can be said of the Mom/Pop who builds an internet empire from Starbucks.

Now that we have these social networking capabilities, we will be learning how to use them as they progress. More new Web 2.0 services/sites will appear and they will continue to help us change the way we communicate until the computer leaders of the world unite and create Web 3.0, which already exists to a conceptual degree. Web 3.0, I’m told, will be interactive to the point that it receive3s voice commands, and creates and holds search results until you retrieve them, at your leisure.

We are moving in the direction of being able to sit in your armchair in the center of your command center and calling out, “Computer, find me the answer to…” and it will respond with your results. Now if we could only get our federal budget to balance…