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Tuesday, January 03, 2006
What is Web 2.0 and why should we care
This may be a little beyond the area of expertise of most offices that utilize word processing. But, I think it's important enough to get educated on, because it is most certain to come up in the future.
First, what is Web 2.0? In a nutshell, it's an internet that serves as a computer operating system where, among other things, ready-to-use software programs reside. End users (that's us) would use their computers to access their data and documents on the web via those software programs. In addition, they'll be able to create and edit those documents together with other people.
Look at your start menu to see what programs you use on a regular basis. Right off the bat, I see word processing, spreadsheet, and bookkeeping software in my start menu. If you work in a law office, you probably have time keeping and calendar software. Maybe even bankruptcy software. Those are the kinds of programs that will be available in Web 2.0
Why should we care? In theory, it's my belief that Web 2.0 is designed, or will be designed, to make our working lives a lot easier and more productive.
As an example, imagine the scenario of a court brief. The lawyer dictates the argument portion of the brief to the secretary. She then types it and saves it on the web. The paralegal accesses the document to insert the statement of facts. The lawyer accesses the document to make sure it's what he wants. He either edits it himself, or dictates the edits to the secretary. This goes on until the final product is ready to be printed and filed with the court. Okay, I realize all of this is presently possible in a law office that utilizes technology.
According to the Wikipedia article, the business impact of Web 2.0 is set forth as follows:
The potential for exponential business growth as a result of the effects of Web 2.0 comes down to the difference between human-instigated value consumption and computer-instigated value consumption.
It is entirely possible for identification and consumption of value to occur without human intervention as a result of Web 2.0. Organizations will increasingly syndicate their value propositions using syndication formats such as RSS/Atom/RDF. In addition to value syndication, Web Service endpoint publishing will simplify the process of consuming the syndicated values.
Okay. As time goes on, perhaps the difference between how busy offices work with what we have now, and how we will work with Web 2.0 will become clear.
One important caveat: As with anything you put on the web, there are issues with security and privacy. This is an ongoing subject which continues to be addressed.
The ultimate price (in dollars) of those programs has yet to be determined.
Will WordPerfect, with all its features and abilities, one day be a web application? I beleive it is entirely possible.
Web 2.0 is still just a concept. Although, there are already some software applications online ready to be used. I'll be checking those out and linking to them in the near future.
• Posted by: Marie Carnes at 12:16 AM
• 510 words in this article
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• Filed in: Thinking outloud
| Web 2.0
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