At present,the hottest issue on the Internet is always about the concept of Web2.0, no matter blog, RSS, WIKI,vedio or social network and interactive communities, as well as the websites of search engine, are developing a new generation of search engine based on the conception of Web 2.0. The concept of Web 2.0 was ignored when it was mentioned, but now it is spreading across the Internet.This process is like the evolution of mankind, ervery change needs dual shakes of theory and pratice. However, as a fresh thing in the information area, the appearance of Web2.0 provides a higher technology support stage for the evolution of mankind society which has entered into information era.
What is Web 2.0
As Blogger Don writes in his book of “explaination of Web 2.0 concepts” , “the websites of Flickr、Craigslist、Linkedin、Tribes、Ryze、Friendster、Del.icio.us、43Things.com are representation of Web2.0, the application of social software such as Blog、TAG、SNS、RSS、WIKI are its core, and it is a new generation of Internet mode which is implemented by the new theories and technologies of division by six times,XML,Ajax and so on.
At the same time, he points out that “ the change from web 1.0 to web 2.0 is concretely the development from the single “read” to “write” and “ common construction”; the progress from receiving information on the Internet passively to creating it; in terms of basic compostion unit, it develops from “ web pages” to “ publishing or recording information; in terms of tools,it develops from the Intenert browser to all kinds of browers and RSS reading machine; in terms of opreating system, it transfers from the “Client/Server” to “Web Services”; its authors are developing from professinal experts such as programmers to all the ordinary users; in application it develops from the elementary and “humorous” application to the general and plentiful ones.
There are many "definitions" or chracteristics about Web 2.0 on the Internet, however, this seems not to help us undertand Web 2.0, maybe different people have different understandings on Web 2.0. And a person could have various understandings if he views in different directions. In fact , as many important concepts, there is no clear bound on Web 2.0, it's like the core of gravity that orgnizes websites near or far from the core into a network like the solar system, and these websites reflect the principle of Web 2.0. In order to understand better, we can look back to review the history of Internet development.
The History of Web 2.0
The generation of a new concept or theory must have its own historic clue, and can be produced by nothing.
In order to understand Web 2.0 better, first we should know the history of Web 1.0 and even BBS. World Wide Web, which is called WWW for short, was invented by a Britisher named TimBern-ers-Lee in 1989. Through Web we can display the resouces on the Internet directly in a web page, and these resouces can be linked with each other by web pages. But before Web, a large amount of resouces are stored on BBS.
BBS was borned in the late 1970s, at that time there is no browser, search engine and even personal website. On BBS we may primarily do four things: publishing news, releasing trade information , delivering personal thoughts, and doing interactive questions and answers. According to the research on the development history of Internet, the content and service oriented websites in the Web era are transformed by the four functions of BBS. While the previous three functions of BBS are seperated from the whole, it gradually develops into three kinds of websites: news, electronic commerce, and blogs. These websites gradually form their own door-sites, such as Sina, Ebay, Blogs in China. And the fourth function is gradually apart, but it still clings to the traditional door-websites, like the Awareness in Baidu and Questions in Sina.
In the early period of Internet development, it’s the Web time under static Html, this is what we call Web 1.0. But the web under dynamic Html, through the programs of Web server, according to the requests of users, get the data stored in database and dynamicly create Html codes with the previous designed model, finally transmit to the user’s browsers .It also belongs to the series of Web 1.0, because what users see are the same as what in Web 1.0, however, because the data are not previously made or published , but needs dynamic and interactive generation with users, therefore some people call it Web 1.5. But under Web 2.0, XML data based on RSS/ATOM/RDF/FOAF etc. are not combined with pages and websites , they are seperated and can implement synchronization, cohension and tranfer. By dealing with XML data, these contents can combined freely and can be displayed and processed by all kinds of application programs.(no matter Web programs or desktop programs).
With the progress of technology, compared with the websites of news and electronic commerce, the websites developing from the last two functions of BBS have appeared different features. From these differences, we can observe diversity between Web 2.0 and the traditional Web 1.0. In terms of knowledge production , Web 1.0 puts the knowledge that human has acquired on the Internet by the commercial force. However, Web 2.0 organizes these knowledge organically through the cooperation of each user, in the process deepens the knowledge and sparkles. From the construction of network society, it makes the content provider as the main body, and builds from top to the bottom, the users are considered as a group conception. But Web 2.0 makes the user as the main body, the blog every user represents as the cell, let them combine spontaneously or under guide, continuously radiates to form a organic network that is retractile. From the interaction, Web 1.0 is primarily network toward user, it is a one-direction behavior ; in Web 2.0, ervey user exists as equal entity, their behaviors are standard bidirectional.
Construct User-Centered Internet
In brief, Web 2.0 is a kind of Internet puts the users as the core. One of the core values of Web 2.0 is that leting users participate content-creating, in order to reform the orgnization of contents and transmission of information better, creating association and sociality. This also reflects a key principle of Web 2.0, that is “ the more the users, the better the services, the larger the benefits”. The “ Technology Observation” journal of Massachusetts Institute of Technology had once analyzed about the technical characteristics of Web 2.0, pointing out that “ the technologies accorded with the definition of Web2.0 such as bolgs, RSS, videos etc., are all emphasizing the equal information interaction of transmission, that is the receiver of information is also the creator, some blogs assemble new information exporter, ereryone are drinking milk while milking.”
We can’t deny that all kinds of theories, technologies and software that represent Web 2.0 have some difference from Web 1.0 in a large extent. However, the changes Web 2.0 has brought to the whole Internet should not be limited in these technical levels. In the application aeras, Web 2.0 has thoroughly changed the relations between people on the Internet, making Internet a organic social network. Single user is like the synapse of the brain , the communication between them become stronger by copying and strengthening, and Internet will grow organically as the direct result of all the activities of all the network users. The network structure like the brain’s nerve cell will make Internet more open and effective. The appearance of Web 2.0 is like the lightning in the ancient times, bringing about the origin of life for the Internet.
In fact , Web 2.0 is not a concrete thing but a period , as well as a general appellation of various technolohies and product services which are promoting this period. So it’s difficult for us to say what is Web 2.0, but we can say which products belong to its area. Meanwhile, Web 2.0 also brings many problems to be solved.
As it is known to all, farm produce is the core product in the agricultural society, industrial products is the core in the industrial society. Similarly, the core product in the information society is information products. The biggest characteristic of information products that differ from the farm produce and industrial products is that its creation needs cost but its copy and transmission are costless, particularly in network times. Therefore, this determines information products should be shared by all human being, only that can achieve the most effects.
However, in this information explosion era, there are various information on the Inrenet everyday, and we have not statisfied with getting these simply, and the cost of searching and managing these information is very expensive. Although the search engine has provided great convenience for us, making us filtate some kind of information we need by the key word in the vast information area, it is far from enough for us . Currently, what we need is how to manage, maintain, store, share, transfer these information , this is what Web 2.0 can provide for us .
In Web2.0, the effect of “people” has been heightened to the extent that has never happened. The simple website transmiting at one direction to people at one time has gradually transformed into the one-to-one,one-to-more, and synchronous interactive transmission. With the various technology tools like RSS, exchanging and managing resouces become more convenient than before, and the production of content on the Internet is not limited to some big door-websites any more, ereryone can take part in personal production, the production mode , scale and efficiency of products have rised at a fast and unprecedented speed, the products full of vivid personal characterisics can be produced efficently and shared quickly.
The Problems of Internet Popularization
Unfortunately, individual production is borned with essentiality of simpleness, freedom and crudeness. This essentiality destines better products are few, no matter what the use value and mass size are , the products are only personal and characteristic ones. Moreover, the production structure of individual production has uncertainty. As individual in the biological sense, it affects high standard and large scale production in many areas like physiology and phychology. But it’s too early to say that Web 2.0 will take place of Web 1.0 by this kind of production structure. Although WIKI’s production mode of coordination will solve the problem to some extent, however, some problems which are brought about still can’t be solved, such as the ownership of products, measure of values, distribution of values, and how to implement values of merchandise.
Besides, Web 2.0 advocates centralization, communication and cooperation between people. Everyone can take part in the creation of Internet contents , this will inevitably bring about a problem , that is how to distinguish information contents of personal publication as well as how to ensure their authenticity. Contrarily, excessive freedom and organization by themselves will make Web 2.0 inefficient. All of these are problems for Web 2.0 that are difficult to settle.
Although Web 2.0 is not very mature now, it reveals a beautiful prospect for us. The progress of Internet technology is only a start, with the development of Web 2.0, we still need more improved credit system, law system, and transition of people’s way of life,way of work and way of thinking. We can say that Web 2.0 is showing us a trend that we are forging ahead toward information society.
The human society takes 5000 years of development to complete the span from group life to individual life, and the concept representing individual freedom is only less than 400 years old. But Internet merely takes ten years to achieve the span from group to individual, this can’t be denied as a miracle. The evolution history of Internet is a epitome of the history of mankind society evolution . To some extent, because of its high transparency of information and low trade cost as well as low cohesion cost, its evolution speed could even look forward to the future of human society. In this sense, it can be regarded as a virtual rehearse of evolution of mankind society’s shape, it can also provide forward experience on evolution of mankind society. From the point of sociology, maybe we could get some beneficial achievements comparing the evolution history of human to that of Internet.