Over the past two decades, usage of the Internet has developed from simply ‘surfing’ inter-linked pages of information, through the boom in on-line retailing and e-commerce, to the present day array of so-called ‘Web 2.0’ on-line services and applications.
This month’s Creative Networks event aims to de-mystify the terminology of Web 2.0 and demonstrate how the region’s creative community can empower their work and businesses with new ways to communicate, collaborate, create and distribute content via the Internet.
Organised by Birmingham City University’s Technology Innovation Centre (TIC), the event opens from 6pm on Thursday 29th May, at Millennium Point. It is free and open to all creative companies and freelancers in the West Midlands.
Helping Creative Networks’ delegates through the bewildering range of Web 2.0 terms, tools and possibilities, will be leading Web 2.0 exponents, Pete Ashton and Stef Lewandowski, from Birmingham’s own thriving digital community.
Dave Taylor of TIC’s Centre for Interactive Media says: “Whilst the term ‘Web 2.0’ is used widely, its precise definition is as debated, as it is misunderstood. The term ‘2.0’ may appear to imply that there is a new Internet system, but Web 2.0 actually just refers to new ways of using the Internet.”
With such a diverse and evolving range of Web 2.0 services and tools, the event will focus on two fundamental Web 2.0 concepts. The first is a change in mindset, where people stop seeing the Internet as a static information silo, but instead use it as an extended suite of tools and services to reach, engage and interact with clients, partners and wider society. The second is the power of distributing content, in text, audio or other visual form, through links and syndication to other Web 2.0 sites and services.
Dave Taylor explains: “Whilst the term Web 2.0 may be unfamiliar to some people, popular Web 2.0 services such as the photo sharing website, Flickr, video sharing website YouTube, as well as social networking tools such as Myspace, Bebo and Facebook, are well known and established.”
Pete Ashton comments: “Services like Flickr and YouTube are classic Web 2.0, not simply because they enable anyone to publish their content on-line, but because that content can then be taken outside of those services independently of their creators. In essence, it means that content on the Internet can take on a life of its own, as it is used by people as part of their on-line lives.”
Another popular Web 2.0 tool is the blog, a term derived from ‘web-log’. Blogs can take the form of an on-line diary or journal, or even a platform for news and general comment. The power of blogging is realised through the linkages between blogs and the syndication of blogs around the internet. Blog posts can quickly spread across the Internet, which has led to the rise of so-called ‘social media’, where users create and distribute their own news content.
By the end of the event, Pete Ashton suggests that attendees should be able to: “Put your material on-line in a manner that can take advantage of these phenomena and understand how the conversation that powers Web 2.0 operates.”
Pete has been blogging since 2000. He was a driving force behind the establishment of Birmingham’s ‘Flickr’ photo-sharing community and set up the ‘Created in Birmingham’ blog, which recently won a Media Guardian award for ‘innovation in an independent blog’. Co-presenter, Stef Lewandowski, is both the founder and Managing Director of the creative agency 3form and a co-founder of the Birmingham-based creative industries organisation, Creative Republic. Stef has recently received one of the internationally-recognised ‘Webby Awards’ for excellence on the Internet.
Dave Taylor says: “Both Pete and Stef attended the world-famous ‘South by South West Interactive’ new media conference in Austin, USA, this Spring, so the event promises to inspire attendees with some of the very latest ideas.”
Anyone interested in attending should contact Creative Networks Co-ordinator, Scarlet Scardanelli, on 0121 331 5400 or e-mail creative.networks@tic.ac.uk.
Further reading:
What Is Web 2.0?
Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software
http://www.oreilly.de/artikel/web20.html
The who, what, and why of Where 2.0
http://news.cnet.com/The-who%2C-what%2C-and-why-of-Where-2.0/2009-1032_3-6239471.html?tag=item
Transparency and Making Choices
http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/
Web 2.0 debates internet’s future
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7368387.stm
Luminaries look to the future web
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7373717.stm
The World Wide Web turns 15 (again)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7375703.stm
A ‘more revolutionary’ Web
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/23/business/web.php
Webby Awards
http://www.webbyawards.com/
Media Guardian Awards
http://megas.guardianprofessional.co.uk/winners-independent-blog.aspx
