Web 2.0 and Mashups: Where Do We Go from Here?
Unconventional Wisdom

Tom Nolle, Founder and President, CIMI Corporation

A Webtorials Brief

Published October 2008, Posted October 2008

Abstract:

The notion of the next generation of anything is appealing, and when the “something” is the Internet or the web it’s doubly so. Thus, the notion of “Web 2.0” is something that’s been promoted to the point of becoming a cliché. We’ve had just about everything-two-point-oh at this point, in fact.

To add to the confusion, the whole Web 2.0 thing is far from nailed down in terms of definition. There are hosts of people who say they have it, or use it, or provide it, but somewhat of a shortage of definitions. Even where you see definitions these days, you often find them rather…shall we say…philosophical.

“Web 2.0” has come to be used (perhaps from the very first) as more hype or as a means of goal-expression than reality. The idea arose at a conference in the early part of this decade, and one could fairly say that the notion was that Web 2.0 was whatever you thought would make Web 1.0 more palatable, more exciting, more hype-worthy. If you are going to talk about the impact of Web 2.0 on networking, media, advertising, or anything else, you have to somehow shed the fluff and move to something objective. We propose to do that, and of course will likely anger many of the proponents of the concept. Hey, differences of opinion are what make horse races, right?

Despite our diving downward past the glitter, there are a lot of technical details below the level we’re going to cover here, of course, and that’s the sort of thing that will lead many to dismiss the effort we’re making as “incomplete”. OK, but unfortunately there are books about each individual aspect of Web 2.0, which should make it clear that covering it in five to seven pages will require a bit of creative prioritization and condensation.

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