Web 2.0

Definition

Web 2.0 refers to places on the internet that provide the luxury of allowing users to express their ideas through writing, photography, video and in any other way you can think of within a certain social network, the most popular being Facebook and YouTube. This is rather appealing to people as it allows the user to read and write rather than just read what is there.

 This very website we are using now is among the many websites considered as web 2.0 because its main focus allows users to express their ideas and opinions through their writing. It allows anyone to have a blog within the same network allowing people to search for and comment on what they want.

YouTube is a very popular website that allows anyone in the world to put their own video on the Internet. There are hundreds of different kinds of videos that can be uploaded to this website each expressing different opinions, emotions and talents. It allows users to comment on and rate any video they see (or 99.9 percent of them) and recommends videos based on the users’ history with the website. (click picture to go to my channel)

Flickr allows users to upload their photos, illustrations or pictures to the internet very much like YouTube allows users to upload videos to the internet. This site encourages people to upload any photo, design piece or picture they want to share with the world and also comment and rate on others they have seen. Users can also give out awards to express their fondness of the photograph or picture.

Week 1 – Web 2.0 & Convergence

Summary

Web 2.0 refers to places on the internet that provide the luxury of allowing users to express their views and ideas within a certain social network, the most popular being Facebook and YouTube. This is rather appealing to people as it allows the user to read and write rather than just read what is there. This may be a strong reason why the internet has become so much more popular than television and radio.

As future designers we will need to start thinking about the ways we can make the consumer more involved in the things we design online and not just making something look nice. Websites should be more than just an information source but somewhere consumers can give feedback and interact with the product.

Convergence is how the three C’s (Communications Networks, Computing Information Technology and Content) cross-over to form the World Wide Web. It also refers to how different types of information are being viewed on all types of technology as well as technology being used for things it wasn’t originally designed for e.g. phones being used for games and the internet. This will affect us as designers as we will not only be designing things on the internet for use at home on a computer but also for things like phones and iPads.

Reflection

The knowledge that consumers want to express themselves is important to us as designers as it allows us to think of more creative ways to get them to interact with websites allowing them to create and give their opinions. Knowing what they are doing on which piece of technology will help us when designing an interactive website.