The transition from a simple server-client read only web (web 1.0) to the read-write web (web 2.0) that we are familiar with today is not something i had ever consciously noticed before, or thought about. Learning more about the differences though has made me realise just how differently i use the internet now as oppposed to, say, only 3 or 4 years ago. By using the WayBackMachine on www.archive.org i managed to find Freewebs http://web.archive.org/web/20050205092956/members.freewebs.com/ a site that was very ‘cool’ to my 15 year old self, and many other teenagers, where you could make your own website about yourself, or anything – for free! Although it adhered to a strict template and most peoples pages ended up looking exactly the same minus the content, it meant that as an individual i could contribute my own web content. It was an earlyish (although very clunky and basic) example of web 2.0. Since then the internet has become THE place to air your views, vent your anger, share your hapiness or whatever you like. Personally i have accounts on Myspace, Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, Youtube and now WordPress, meaning that i upload a wealth of information to the Internet (whether it is of any interst to anyone or not remains a question!) and in a good way, we are all much more connected by web 2.0. Occasionally it does worry me how much of our life revolves around the internet, but i do appreciate that it at times make life a lot easier and entertaining. It enables me to share experiences with friends and likeminded people, for example on my youtube account, on which i have uploaded various footage of bands that i have recorded, which previously only i and maybe a few of my friends will have seen, and now can be viewed by people who may either be a fan of that band, or been at that same concert and wanting to relive the experience.
An example of a video (quite poor picture quality!) from a concert that i have posted on Youtube, with comments from other users reliving and relating their own experiences. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOOcewe4ez4
This sharing of experience that comes with web 2.0 can only be a positive thing in my view, and makes the internet much more relevant in todays life than the simple information giving format of web 1.0. As long as it does not consume people’s lives too much, as i think social networking sometimes does, it is a valuable tool in networking and reachin people that are sometimes hard to communicate with in other forms.
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