This document provides an overview of key concepts and tools related to Web 2.0 in 30 minutes or less. It defines Web 2.0 as focusing on user collaboration, contribution and community through tools like blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, social bookmarking and networking sites. Some key concepts discussed include individual production and user-generated content, harnessing the power of the crowd through collective intelligence, the architecture of participation through open platforms, and network effects like power laws and the long tail. The document concludes by considering the implications of these changes and encouraging participants to explore and engage with Web 2.0.

1. Web 2.0Web 2.0
in 30 Minutes or Lessin 30 Minutes or Less
Concepts & ToolsConcepts & Tools
OverviewOverview
Melissa Cardenas-DowMelissa Cardenas-Dow
melissa.cardenasdow@gmail.commelissa.cardenasdow@gmail.com
Presentation: April 28, 2009Presentation: April 28, 2009

2. AgendaAgenda
 Parameters: What we’re going to do, what weParameters: What we’re going to do, what we
can’t and what we won’tcan’t and what we won’t
 What is Web 2.0?What is Web 2.0?
 Web 2.0Web 2.0
 Key conceptsKey concepts
 Tools: blogs, RSS, feeds and readers, wikisTools: blogs, RSS, feeds and readers, wikis
 Conclusion: So what? Why do these matter?Conclusion: So what? Why do these matter?

3. ParametersParameters
 Just a tour: Conceptual overviewJust a tour: Conceptual overview
 A lot of ground, very limited timeA lot of ground, very limited time
 Broad strokes leave off detailsBroad strokes leave off details
 My particular perspectiveMy particular perspective
 Points of detailPoints of detail  points of contentionpoints of contention
 Purpose: introPurpose: intro  description, backgrounddescription, background
 No opportunities to explore and applyNo opportunities to explore and apply

4. What is Web 2.0?What is Web 2.0?
 Michael Wesch,Michael Wesch,
Asst. Prof. of CulturalAsst. Prof. of Cultural
Anthropology, KansasAnthropology, Kansas
State UniversityState University
 YouTubeYouTube video, “Thevideo, “The
Machine is Us/ing Us”Machine is Us/ing Us”
Uploaded: March 8,Uploaded: March 8,
20072007

5. Let’s break it down…Let’s break it down…
 What is Web 2.0?What is Web 2.0?
 depends on who youdepends on who you
askask
 Wait…Wait…
If there’s a Web 2.0…If there’s a Web 2.0…
What’s Web 1.0?What’s Web 1.0?
 Who?
 The usual suspects
 Computer industries
 Information industries
 Those who use/are
interested in
 Human activities,
events
 Human creations
 Human institutions

6. Let’s break it down…
 Key concepts:
 Individual production & user-generated content
 Harnessing the power of the crowd
 Data on an epic scale
 Architecture of participation
 Network effects
 Openness
-- Dr. Linda Main, SJSU-SLIS, LIBR 246-15 class, Fall 2007

7. Let’s break it down…
 In sum, Web 2.0 is online…
 …collaboration
 …contribution
 …community
 Focus is on the user
 Read-and-Write Web – Web as Platform

8. Individual Production &
User-Generated Content
 Rising model of information production-
dissemination-consumption cycle
 2-way / multi-way conversation2-way / multi-way conversation
 Questions who has authority to say, to knowQuestions who has authority to say, to know
 Experts vs. AmateursExperts vs. Amateurs

9. Individual Production &
User-Generated Content
 Some toolsSome tools
 BloggerBlogger
 RSS feeds, readersRSS feeds, readers
 YouTubeYouTube
 FlickrFlickr
 DeliciousDelicious

10. Individual Production &
User-Generated Content
 Some definitions
 Blog
 Web log or diary; a web page organized
chronologically
 Characteristics: chronological organization,
easy to set up, update
 Describes format, not content
 Exs: Armacost Library, TechDirt, Chronicle of
Higher Education

11. Individual Production &
User-Generated Content
 Some definitions
 RSS
 Really Simple Syndication
 Standardized feed format
 Allows form and content to be separated
 Based on XML
 Allows for easy dissemination of frequently updated Web
documents
 Users can subscribe to a page, receive notifications of
updates
 RSS Reader exs: Bloglines, Google Reader

12. Individual Production &
User-Generated Content

13. Individual Production &
User-Generated Content

14. Harnessing the Power of the Crowd
 Crowdsourcing, collective intelligence, the
wisdom of the crowd
 Depends on collaboration – the social
aspect of the web
 Questions authorship, ownership,
intellectual property rights

15. Harnessing the Power of the Crowd
The central principle behind the success of
the giants born in the Web 1.0 era who
have survived to lead the Web 2.0 era
appears to be this, that they have
embraced the power of the web to
harness collective intelligence.
-- Tim O’Reilly, “What Is Web 2.0,” 09/30/2005

16. Harnessing the Power of the Crowd
 Wikipedia – prime example
 Wiki
 A web site/page that can be easily edited by
anyone who is allowed access
 ‘wiki’ – Hawaiian for ‘fast’

17. Harnessing the Power of the Crowd

18. Harnessing the Power of the Crowd
 Social bookmarking
 Users choose terms to associate Web
pages/sites
 Users organize information themselves
 Activity: ‘tagging’
 Result: ‘folksonomies’
 Ex: Delicious

19. Harnessing the Power of the Crowd
 Twitter
 Social networking, micro-blogging service
 Users send, read updates or ‘tweets’
 Ex: Play Machinima Law Conference @
Stanford Law School CIS, April 24-25, 2009
 http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/
 http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23pml

20. Data on an Epic Scale
 Explosion of Information
 Acceleration & Increase
 Production
 Dissemination
 Distribution
 Affects new and old media
 Challenges established assumptions of order

21. Architecture of Participation
 Design encourages participation,
contribution, lowers barriers
 Based on ‘open’ principle
 Opens up production to all users
 Exposes data for reuse and recombination,
‘mash-up’
 Questions ownership, intellectual property
rights

22. Architecture of Participation
 Design implies continuous improvement
 perpetual ‘beta’perpetual ‘beta’
 Design ramps up ‘Web as Platform’Design ramps up ‘Web as Platform’
 Questions perfectionism, established rules
of order, software release life cycle

23. Network Effects
 More participation  better tool, servicebetter tool, service
 Wikipedia entry for network effectWikipedia entry for network effect
 Critical mass must first be achieved
 Ex: Wikipedia

24. Network Effects
Power Laws & The Long Tail
 Power Law – mathematical concept,
frequency distribution
 “80/20 Rule”
 Power law distribution graphs tend to have
long tails

25. Network Effects
Power Laws & The Long Tail
 The Long Tail – business strategy coined
by Chris Anderson, Oct 2004
 remove physical barriers, demand for niche
products are actually high
 Ex: Amazon.com

26. Network Effects
We are moving towards a culture and
economy in which the huge numbers of
people who do (or can) participate in the
niches of the Long Tail really matter.
-- Dr. Linda Main, LIBR 246-15,SJSU-SLIS Fall 2007

27. Openness
 Open source
 Open access
 Open API (Application Programming Interface)
 Exposes data
 Free to use, access and remix
 Services
 Data
 Questions ownership, intellectual property rights

28. Openness
 Also an attitude or outlook…
 Trust
 Play

29. Let’s recap…

30. Let’s recap…
We shape our tools
and thereafter our tools shape us.
-- Marshall McLuhan, 1964, Understanding Media: The
Extensions of Man

31. So what?

32. So what?
 It’s here, it’s now
 What’s next?
 Mobile services, SMS technology
 What will happen to familiar formats, processes,
institutions?

33. So what?
 It’s changing things
 But what is it again?
 Is this a publishing revolution?
 To what extent?
 Is it a revolution at all?

34. So what?
 ‘Teaching the Machine’
 The semantic Web
 Depends on us
 ‘The Machine is Us/ing Us’
 Presents us with challenges, opportunities
 Will we rise to meet them?

35. Extend yourself…
 Explore Web 2.0
 Read blogs
 Read & write comments
 Tag, review something
 Start an account or two…
 Use the Web as Platform
 Participate!

36. Extend yourself…
 Connect
 With me
 Email: melissa.cardenasdow@gmail.com
 Facebook
 Twitter: http://twitter.com/micdow
 Google Talk
 Further Learning list available
 Colleagues
 Old friends, acquaintances
 Make new contacts

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