What is Web2.0 and Why Is It Important

This is the generation of connectivity. Technology is taking its stride with a pace that is so fast that at times we seem totally in the dark and find it very difficult to match ourselves to the changing times. However we have to find a way to solve this problem. If the world is changing we too need to change with it. No point in complaining that the technology is too complicated to be adapted by us. We have to learn to be more flexible and generally aware of what is happening around us. Along with the complications that are conventionally associated with technology, there are ways too, to simplify things for us. One such term that introduces us to this simplified world is ‘Web2.0’. The term ‘Web2.0’ encapsulates the idea of the proliferation of interconnectivity and interactivity of the web-delivered content.  ‘Web2.0’ essentially describes the changing trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design and aims to enhance communication, creativity, secure information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web. It has also led to the development and evolution of web culture communities and has hosted services like social networking sites and video sharing sites. It allows the users to do more than just retrieve information. They can build on the interactive facilities of ‘Web1.0’ to provide ‘Network as platform’ computing, allowing users to run software applications entirely through a browser. Users can own the data on ‘Web2.0’ site and exercise control over that data. Some reasons why ‘Web2.0’ is so important are as follows:-

Links: - It provides guidance to important pieces of information. The most wonderful thing about it is that the best pages are the most frequently linked to.

Search: - To make searching less cumbersome it offers information through keyword search which makes it very user friendly.

Authoring: - This provides the facility of creating and constantly updating the content. In certain search sites the content is iterative in the sense that people do and redo each other’s work. In the case of ‘blogs’ the content comprises of all the posts and individual comments that are accumulated over a period of time and can be accessed by the user at any point of time.

Tags:-Categorizing of content by creating tags that are simple, one word descriptions to facilitate searching and avoid rigid pre-made categories is also another reason why ‘Web2.0’ is becoming popular today.

Extensions: - This deals with the automation of some of the work and pattern matching by using algorithms. For example- amazon.com recommendations

Signals: - The use of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology notifies users with the changes of the content by sending e-mails to them.

One must note the fact that universities are now using Web2.0 in order to enhance their connectivity.