What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is a Paradigm: a "how" not a "what". While web 2.0 is described in terms of increasingly familiar technologies and acronyms (User Centric, AJAX, Rich UI, RSS, Collaboration, Wikis, Mashups, Tags) these are merely examples of the manifestation or enablers of the web 2.0 paradigm. At its core, web 2.0 is a set of expectations a paradigm. It is not a product or something that you can buy. Consequently, definitions are slippery and nearly always prone to counterexamples. So what can web 2.0 be? This is more of a philosophical / ontological question. It is the straw that tips the scale to adoption of applications within the enterprise. It is the value-add. It is not the thing you buy, rather it is the approach you take. It is the thing you ask about and the "how" of the path taken to get there. The ends of web 2.0 abstracted are still familiar to us. These are results such as cross-disciplinary, ad hoc, and unintentional collaboration, subversive networks, ubiquitous authorship, wide-source context, and composite applications. What enables such ends is a set of technologies constructed from a paradigm that focuses on user experience and information divorced not only from presentation but even from source, location, and application. The user is the center rather than the application. What is RSS but a way of getting raw information to a user in a way s/he can do with it what s/he will? What is AJAX but an enabler for a smoother application experience for the user? What are mashups but a way to allow the user access to the information and context in a way that is easiest, most convenient, and most relevant to him/her? Web 2.0 is the enabling paradigm, associated technologies, and design approaches that promote the hyper-individualization of the experience and consumption of information. Enterprise 2.0 is the bringing of these paradigms, technologies, and design approaches to bear on processes and applications that cost or make businesses money.
