I can’t resist posting an excerpt from the Tim Berners-Lee podcast with IBM. This should hopefully put the matter of ‘what is web 2.0’ to rest, permanantly:
LANINGHAM: “You know, with Web 2.0, a common explanation out there is Web 1.0 was about connecting computers and
making information available; and Web 2 is about connecting people and facilitating new kinds of collaboration. Is that
how you see Web 2.0?”
BERNERS-LEE: “Totally not. Web 1.0 was all about connecting people. It was an interactive space, and I think Web 2.0
is of course a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means. If Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is
people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along.”
For good measure, Sir Tim adds:
“And in fact, you know, this Web 2.0, quote, it means using the standards which have been produced by all these people
working on Web 1.0. It means using the document object model, it means for HTML and SCG and so on, it’s using HTTP, so
it’s building stuff using the Web standards, plus Java script of course.
So Web 2.0 for some people it means moving some of the thinking client side so making it more immediate, but the idea of
the Web as interaction between people is really what the Web is. That was what it was designed to be as a collaborative
space where people can interact.”
