New blog

I have a new blog for the Datawebtect. This blog is to brand my skills and am hoping to provide some insight into the Data web architecture. Check it out!

How to identify web 2.0?

If a website can do the following then you can assume that it is a web 2.0:

• You can easily comment on, or preferably, actually change the content that you find on a Web site.
• You can label your information with tags and use them to find that information again.
• Your Web page doesn’t reload even once as you get a whole lotta work done.
• You are actively aware of other users’ recent activity on a site.
• It’s possible for you to easily share with others the information you’re contributing on the Web site.
• You can syndicate your information on a Web site elsewhere on the Internet through a feed like RSS or Atom.
• You can pick and choose the pieces of a Web site that you like and then add that functionality to your own site.
  
• There are easy ways to find out what content is the most popular or interesting at the moment.
• You heard about a new Web site because a friend enthusiastically recommended it to you out of the blue.
• There happens to be a mind boggling amount information and a lot of people on a site, yet it seems easy to find what you want and communicate with others.
• Everything you ever added to a given Web site can be removed easily at your whim.
• The Web site actively encourages you to share and reuse its information and its services with others.  And it even provides a license to do so.

Five Walls of confusion of Web 2.0

Web 2.0 and the Five Walls of Confusion

According to Dion

• The Wall of Buzzwords: Ajax, The Long Tail, Mashups, Memes, SaaS, and many more buzzwords and acronyms put up an impenetrable wall for the uninitiated.  Yes, Web 2.0 describes dozens of interlocking design patterns and some good business models for online software.  But in our zeal, we forget how far out in the envelope we are.  Simple terms like online software, software in the browser, and the two-way Web are so much more approachable.  It’s not too late, we can explain Web 2.0 in kinder, simpler terms. And we should.
• The Wall of Hype:  This seems to have calmed down a bit but it also might just be moving around.  Web 2.0 hype does seem to have diminished in the face of some withering anti-hype and the hype cycle has moved more to Web 2.0-related developments like mashups and the latest round of Web 2.0 startups.  Nevertheless, Web 2.0 promotion continues unabated in certain circles along with the anti-hype and if you’re not following closely, you don’t know what to believe:. Whether Web 2.0 is the next generation of the Web, or if it’s snake oil.  If it’s the future of software, or just a marketing gimmick.  I will give you my point of view one last time; Web 2.0 is real.  And for that good reason, and some not so good ones, there is a lot of hype surrounding it.

The Wall of Complexity: If you look at the Wired post above it has a particularly complex diagram in it. I actually drew that in order to create a pretty compehensive view of most of the moving parts in Web 2.0. There are a lot and it’s hard to figure out where to start as a user, much less a software designer. The good news is that the good exemplars (Flickr and del.icio.us) and some of our approaches (like Ajax), actualy make it pretty obvious what you’re supposed to do. But it’s still very hard and what still not conveyed very well is the sense of balance and proportion required. In other words, you’re not supposed to pile every single one of these Web 2.0 ingredients into the cake, bake it, and sell it to the nearest Web software giant. It doesn’t work that way. There is a constant feedback loop with your users on the Web that guide you to in a close collaboration to add/remove features and capabilitgies while dynamically shaping and reshaping the product into what it needs to be at any given time.

• The Wall of Significance. Is Web 2.0 a major new revolution in the way software is created and used? Probably. But there’s a lot of stuff to learn, especially about the softer aspects of online systems like collaboration and social software. A lot of software developers, architects, and designers, more comfortable with the precise, exact parts that comprise software, are often pretty unhappy about this. Unfortunately for them, these aspects are probably here to stay, but they aren’t sure. The competition for users, attention, and marketshare means you have to increasingly dangle the most effective engagement mechanisms or people will go elsewhere. And because we’re human, there are few more powerful draws that building a sense of ownership and community. But in these early days, it’s hard to tell if there really is a fundamental shift in first order software design, or just a passing wave of faddish affectation. Those of you who read this blog know where I stand, but it’s hard for everyone to appreciate the significance of all this yet.
• The Wall of Ignorance. I find that most people in the real world (as in not the blogosphere) have no real idea what a blog is yet, much less a wiki. If I sample my local IT shop, I’ll get better answers but surprisingly not much. The real danger is in constructing such an advanced world that it alienates those that encounter it. This is almost like the buzzword problem above but it’s even more insular. Fortunately, the very best Web 2.0 software blows past such problems and just lets people do their thing and not worry about what it’s called. I talked for a bit with Debbie Landa of Under The Radar at the TechCrunch BBQ over the weekend and she summed it up best (and I’m paraphrasing): If I can’t figure it out in a minute or two, I know it doesn’t have it. The bottom line is the great software will appeal to everyone and require no special knowledge, but all too many online software apps require all of that knowledge and will forever be relegated to users who are in the very tip of the progress envelope. A pity indeed.

Defacing site

Here is a cool deal from the net disaster to deface a site that has done some harm.

Deface it  

How to boost your website/blog traffic?

Steve Pavlina’s insightful thoughts about increasing the web traffic. Click here . In his blog he discusses about his personal passion to help lot of people change the way they think and providing the original content to boost a website’s traffice. Although he has taken a different perspective on the food preferences and caustic about it, he has really some good thoughts which could help us out in the long run.

Disruptive influences of Ajax

As Dion explains the disruptive influences of Ajax, which makes us think “Boy this is good!”.

The End of Software Upgrades, Fixes, and Security Patches: This is one of several major advantages that pervasive software gives you.  Since Ajax software delivers an application fresh to your browser each time you load the URL, you’re always getting the latest version, with all fixes and updates, automatically.  Any back-end software experiences the same seamless upgrades.  Traditional native software will never be able to compete with this and people will get very used to never having to update or patch again (often converting their data along the way.)

• Software and Data Available Wherever You Go: How many of us are tired of synchronizing their personal, work, and family computers with the latest software and files?  I know I am. I love it that great Ajax software like Writely lets me have my software, and all my data, wherever I am at the click of a URL.  I can effortlessly share it with others when I want and I never have to spend any of my time copying files to thumb drives, e-mailing things to other accounts, etc.  It makes life so much simpler and easy.  Traditional software can do some of this, but it’s just so much more seamless the Ajax way.  And because Ajax apps generally require no installation of software, you can run your apps and get your data anywhere you find a browser: at an Internet kiosk, cafe, library, friends home, etc.
• Isolated Software Can’t Compete with Connected Software:  Ajax software is delivered using the entire Web as a platform.  That means it can (with a little proxy on the server, provided by the Ajax developer) talk to and use any service out on the greater Web.  This has facilitated a dizzying array of mash-ups. And it means that software created from scratch is going away, as it should.  The best software is now highly integratd into the Web and leverages the rich landscape of services that can be found there.  Small example: The terrific Web 2.0 start page, NetVibes, now has Writely integration.  Never mind more classic examples like Housingmaps, which is an Ajax application that integrates data from two entirely different places on the Web.  Stand-alone software can compete in a limited sense here actually, but Ajax encourages and enables this way of thinking by forcing the software developer down the path of using lightweight Web services from the outset.
• Deprecation of  the Traditional Operating System: It used to be that software was tied to a given operating system, since much software uses a specific OS as a platform. Yes, Java doesn’t do this but it falls into the category of being its own platform for this discussion.  The issue is that Ajax software is almost completely operating system neutral.  Ajax applications use the Web itself as their platform and just need a browser with JavaScript and XmlHttpRequest.  And to be sure, some browser compatibility testing must be done, but that will issue will likely only decrease as Ajax development tools provide the browser abstraction automatically.  In the end, whether a user is running Windows, Linux, MacOS, or something else entirely doesn’t matter.  Ajax is even on mobile devices now.  This is enormously disruptive to the gigantic operating system industry which generally depends on being the most compelling platform for their target audience.  That just isn’t the case any more.  The Web is that compelling platform for an increasing number of people.
  
• Software That Is Invisible: This is a harder to define one but it’s one that I notice personally with Ajax and Web 2.0 applications in general.  I just get work done, I don’t even notice the software anymore.  I’m writing this in an Ajax editor as a matter of fact and one thing I realize is that I never worry about if I have the software installed that I need, whether I have the security permissions, if my data is nearby.  All of these concerns slip away and I’m getting done what I need to get done.  Increasingly, as I use Flickr, Writely, Google Reader, HipCal, del.icio.us, my web mail client, and others, I just don’t even notice they are there just there when I need them.  And I’m not spending time maintaining them, installing them,  or synchronizing data.  Those days are gone and I just don’t want to go back.  Traditional native software will never compete with this, it’s way too high maintenance, low quality, and clunky.  That’s not to say you can’t do abomidable things with Ajax but the Web just routes around the bad implementations.  That’s much harder with just a few choices for usable native software.

Web 2.0 vs Web 1.0

Here is the comparison according to O’Reily between the Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 world.

Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick –> Google AdSense
Ofoto –> Flickr
Akamai –> BitTorrent
mp3.com –> Napster
Britannica Online –> Wikipedia
personal websites –> blogging
evite –> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation –> search engine optimization
page views –> cost per click
screen scraping –> web services
publishing –> participation
content management systems –> wikis
directories (taxonomy) –> tagging (”folksonomy”)
stickiness –> syndication

Please feel free to add to this list and I will update them as we go on.

Powered by web 2.0

The following are some sites powered by web 2.0 by Don.

Social Bookmarking/Search/Invitation:

Simpy
Goovite
Furl
Spurl
Rollyo
Squidoo
StumbleUpon
RawSugar
Kopikol
SurfTailContent FilteringTechtiki
ScoopGo
Filangy

To Do Lists

GooTodo
Listal

Online Calendars

HipCal
AirSet
zEvents
EventSniper
Calenderhub

kiko

 

Web Site/Blog Analytics:

Measure Map
Google Analytics

Peer Production Content (News/Music/Listings)

Shoutwire
Millions of Games
Rojo
Last.fm
Pandora
WikiCompany
Glypho
Yazai
BlockRocker
Wists
SpinSpy
NowPublic
Odeo
WebJay
180 Degree News
Quimble
Riffs
ButterFly
Bandnews

Mash-Ups

Ning
FlickrMap
LivePlasma
CoverPop
Qube
Kayak
toEat
AlexaDex

Aggregators

Google Reader
SuprGlu
Attensa
fluctu8
NewsMob
Blummy
Fluxiom
MeFeedia

Start Pages

PageFlakes
Google Ig

Team Planning, Organization, Coordination, & Project Management

Planzo
Backpack
Zimbra
ProjectPlace
Doodle
ZohoPlanner

E-Mail and Communication

Meebo
GMail
myemail
Tempinbox
Citadel

Online Storage

Avvenu
SendSpace
eSnips
StreamLoad

Image Storage, Search, & Sharing

Fotolia
iStockPhoto
Riya
PhotoBucket

Mapping

Google Maps
Yahoo! Maps
MSN Maps
Wayfaring

Word Processing & Note Taking

JotSpot Live
Webnote

Web 2.0 Parts

TinyMCE
RSS2PDF
ZohoChallenge

Grassroots Web 2.0

Knowmore.org

Online Business Software

2ndSite
NetWorthIQ
ThinkFree
CampaignMonitor

Web 2.0 Social Communities

MySpace
Orkut
LinkedIn

Web 2.0 Command Line

YubNub
Ambedo

Web 2.0 Humor

Web 2.0 Validator

Hosted wikis for groups

PBwiki

Lego’s Robot

Found the post “Robots” in tech Memorandum and looks like we are going towards the future. This is like the “Robots” movie wherein the robots assemble the parts to make a child. It would be interesting how much hoopla Lego can create for such a toy. Nevertheless, can’t wait until August to get one for myself to assemble.

Future of Web 2.0

As “Don Hincliffe” indicates in his blog the future trends for 2006. The list is impressive and some of them are mind boggling. Number 5 is interesting. I came across some people who are working in the tech domain but not aware of the RSS feeds and blogs. Given this trend was talking to myself how the RSS feed could become mainstream but then clarifies that if any website which does not provide the RSS feed of some kind will be left behind and I agree with his assumption.

Going back on web 2.0, if we look back we have beautiful sites on our hands “delicious”, “Flickr” have revolutionalized the concept. There are some posts which highlight when we need to use the technologies provided by web 2.0 which I will save for the next post.