Digital Dictionary

W

Web 2.0

Zhenfei Feng

GERiiCO, Université de Lille, France

Web 2.0: origins and the seven characteristics

The term and concept of Web 2.0 was first mentioned by Darcy DiNucci in her article “Fragmented Future”. Tim O’Reilly and Dale Dougherty made it popular at a conference between O’Reilly Media and MediaLive International. Since then, the concept of Web 2.0 has spread at a rapid pace around the world. O’Reilly points out that “Web 2.0 has no clear boundaries”. Indeed, the concept remains very fuzzy and difficult to define because (1) it is not a specific new technology; (2) the understanding of Web 2.0 is very diverse; and (3) Web 2.0 is a broad topic that encompasses a variety of concepts and methodologies.

It cannot be summarized as a technology or a technique. Rather, it is a set of techniques, functionalities and uses that make what appears (by difference) as “Web 1.0” evolve toward interactivity, sociability (putting people in touch with each other, and not only content), information sharing (collaborative) and simplicity of use that does not require technical and computer knowledge for Internet users.

Faced with the difficulty of defining the term, O’Reilly and his colleagues suggest seven major characteristics of Web 2.0:

• – a vision of the Web as a platform: a platform is a service that acts as an intermediary in accessing information, content and services published or provided by third parties;
• – harnesses collective intelligence;
• – power in data: the accessibility ...