“The Big Ideas in Web 2.0”
Bebo White
bebo@slac.stanford.edu
InterLab2006
FermiLab
October 2006
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“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. And in fact, you know, this 'Web 2.0,' it
means using the standards which have been produced
by all these people working on Web 1.0.”
--Tim Berners-Lee, August 2006
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What is Web 2.0? (1/2)
• A marketing term, a buzzword, but moreover
an ATTITUDE
• Shifts the focus to the user of the information,
not the creator of the information
• Information moves “beyond” Web sites
• Information has properties and these properties
follow each other and find relationships
• Information comes to users as they move
around
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What is Web 2.0? (2/2)
• Information is broken up into “microcontent”
units that can be distributed over many
domains
• Interaction is no longer limited to (X)HTML
• Users are able to control how information is
categorized and manipulated
• User agent becomes a “fat” rather than “thin”
client
• Requires a new set of tools to aggregate and
remix microcontent in new and useful ways
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Properties of the “2.0 Generation”
• Low Barrier
• Self-Service
• Networked
• Cost-Effective
• Open
• Decentralized
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The Big Ideas in Web 2.0
1. Write semantic markup and scatter
microcontent (transition to XML)
2. Provide Web services (move away from
place)
3. Shift to programming (separation of structure
and style)
4. Users contribute content and metadata (social
networks)
5. Rich user interfaces (users are in control)
6. Re-use of content (remixing when needed)
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(Dion Hinchcliffe) 12
Consider All the Ways That Users Can Contribute
Content
• People (not just Web sites) can/have become
entities on the Internet
• It’s not just people using data, but people
developing capabilities
• Users contribute to the content of Web sites
• Not to be confused with “user-centered” design
• More like collaborative authoring
• Not just with blogs, wikis, annotation, tagging,
rating, etc. (e.g., xFolk)
• Some of these tools “blend” into the
background
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Rich User Interfaces
• Not just about Ajax, client-side scripting
• Goal: Make user feel that the interface is
exclusively for them
– Customized
– Directly manipulated
– Fast
• Problems
– Accessibility
– Security, privacy
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Content Re-use
• Started with Google Maps and Google Hacks
• Mashups draw on multiple data sources to
create rich Web applications
• Typically built on APIs and XML content
• Reduced development cost and increased user
satisfaction
• Numerous mashup toolkits
• Expected to hit maturation in 2 years (Gartner
Group)
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Mashups By the Rules (1/2)
• Protect proprietary data that might “leak out”
via mashups
• License external sources to avoid surprises; for
free sources, know the license terms
• Create a directory of XML and RSS data feeds
from internal data sources for mashup
developers
• Exploit mashups as a lightweight integration
option with external partners for non-critical
functions
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Mashups By the Rules (2/2)
• Mashup toolkits are at an early stage- keep
evaluating
• Develop and enforce policies for mashups, but
don’t make them too restrictive or you’ll defeat
the purpose of lightweight development
• Start small with “no-brainers”
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“What really deserves the numeral 2 associated with it
at this time in history is not advertising, nor marketing,
nor SOA, nor even the Web. It's quite a bit larger than that.
What we are up to here is actually Knowledge 2.0, and it
is at least a millennial trend, and it shows every indication
of having anthropologic impact. That is, Knowledge 2.0 is
changing the definition of what it is to be a modern human,
individually and collectively.”
---Dana Gardner
8/31/06
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Enterprise 2.0 (1/2)
(Dion Hinchcliffe)
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Enterprise 2.0 (2/2)
• “The liberation of often previously inaccessible
corporate information to be opened up to
general discoverability, consumption, and
reuse using a Web-based model” – Dion
Hinchcliffe
• A platform shift mostly about the enabling
technologies and riding on the back of Web 2.0
• “A neologism of dubious utility” – unknown
Wikipedia editor
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Ten Top Management Fears About Enterprise
Web 2.0 (1/2)
• Technological Barriers
– Certainty that information gathered and shared
behind a firewall stays behind the firewall
– Access control to particular levels of information and
databases
– Protection against malicious tampering
– Proper tagging
– Employee training
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Ten Top Management Fears About Enterprise
Web 2.0 (2/2)
• Cultural Barriers
– System monitoring to insure adherence to corporate
policy
– Legal and ethical issues
– Productive vs. non-productive use
– How to manage the gathering and dissemination of
large amounts of unstructured data
– Measuring ROI
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Evolution to an “Internet Singularity”
(http://web2.wsj2.com/)
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Thanks for your patience!
Questions? Comments?
bebo@slac.stanford.edu
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