Articles
The Growing Trend of Web 2.0 Technologies
Article Contributed by Monika Valentovic
The Internet and World Wide Web have grown in popularity at astronomical rates throughout North America. With the move towards online shopping, banking, gaming, research, etc., we’re left to wonder what else is possible. Web blogs, social bookmarking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds are just a few of the more popular examples that fall into the scope of Web 2.0 technologies. Most people don’t even realize that they may come into contact with one or more of these technologies through school and/or work.
The following information will let you get your feet wet on each topic:
- Blogs are used to post information or news on a particular topic. Some blogs are even used as online personal diaries. Some celebrities are even jumping on the bandwagon and posting updates on their own blogs (i.e. online diary).
- Social bookmarking allows users to share their own personal online bookmarks. Users can store lists of their internet resources (links) and then these lists are made available to the public. Other users on the same bookmarking system or network can go ahead and browse through these public lists that are categorized and linked. Social bookmarking is definitely a great tool for sharing online resources with fellow internet users.
- Wikis allow a user to add, change, or remove content from a website. A popular example is Wikipedia and it is becoming an international phenomenon. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that allow anyone and everyone to add, remove, or modify information on any possible topic. The draw-back to Wikipedia is that some people may post malicious and/or false information, but advocates of the site argue that these occurrences are rare and are usually caught by other users that post worthwhile information. Wikipedia is usually the first tool that people go to when they need quick information on a certain topic.
- Podcasts are digital media files such as video or sound recordings that are distributed over the internet. You can download podcasts and then transfer the file(s) onto your personal media player to listen or view the file. Podcasts are becoming quite popular in schools and you’ll find many University professors recording their lectures and then posting the podcasts online so that students can go back and listen to the lecture if they missed some points that were mentioned or even if they missed whole class itself.
- RSS feeds are real-time tools that are used to post content that is updated on a regular basis. For example, an RSS feed can be used to send users notifications for new blog entries, updated news headlines or updated/newly posted podcasts. Some websites even have an RSS feed that send out notifications to RSS feed members whenever the website is updated.
The functionality of the World Wide Web is growing constantly and the technologies available out there today are both refreshing and exciting. Web 2.0 technologies are making the World Wide Web more service-oriented and, as such, they make our lives much easier whenever it comes time to doing something as tedious and arduous as research. We all lead very busy lives and Web 2.0 technologies are paving the way for easing some of the stress associated with getting timely and effective information from the World Wide Web.
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