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Financial Services Industry

WEB 2.0 THE INTERNET IS VERSIONING... 1.0, 2.0

Accountancy SA, Sep 2007 by Rudman, Riaan J

Web 2.0 is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one, in which information is given a well-defined meaning, better enabling technology and people to work in co-operation. These are the words of Sir Timothy Berners-Lee (2007), inventor of the World Wide Web.

This article was written using a word processor, which in itself is not unique, but this word processor does not reside on my desktop; it is an on-line word processor. Thlnkfne Write's interface looks, feels and behaves like Microsoft® Word. It has the majority of the standard features and uses the same file formats, but has a download, share and publish button (ThinkFree 2007). The use of such on-line applications are growing in popularity. Fifty percent of TWnWree Office users who share growth projections, marketing material, sales presentation and other documents on-line are business users (Mitchell 2007).

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This is a two part article, which provides an overview of Web 2.0 and highlights some potential implications it has on the modern organisation. Part one explains Web 2.0 and the differences between what is commonly referred to as the internet (retro-actively referred to Web 1.0). Part two focuses on the risks employees are exposing organisations to daily and recommends possible safeguards. In addition to being written on Web 2.0 applications, these two articles were written mainly based on content sourced from Web 2.0 sites. The purpose of these articles is to make the readers aware of Web 2.0 and its related issues in general. It is neither meant to be a technical explanation, nor is it a comprehensive list of technologies, threats and solutions. If it raises your Interest or if you want to know more about the terms used, Google it...

What is Web 2.0

Currently there is no set standard as to what Web 2.0 actually means, implies or requires. It means different things to different people.

Wikipedia, a free on-line encyclopaedia, defines Web 2.0 as a perceived second generation of web-based communities and host servers - such as social networking sites, wikis and folkonomies - that facilitate collaboration and sharing between users, referring to a change in the way that the platform is used (Wikipedia 2007). Wikipedia is a prime example of a Web 2.0 application. Internet users contribute to and constantly review and edit the content of the encyclopaedia. For example, in order to copy this definition, the site was accessed at 06:14 GMT on 25 May 2007 and it had last been modified at 05:32 GMT on the same date by an unknown author or authors. Yet it is considered one of the most reliable and up-to-date encyclopaedias available.

The perception exists that, because a website is built using a certain technology or employs for example Flash, Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript) or other new technologies in its interface, it is a Web 2.0 application. Web 2.0 provides the architecture of participation by users with a rich user interface (including dynamic scripting) that allows them to create, collaborate and share information on a real-time basis creating an idea of a community, collective intelligence. This participation enhances the accessibility of information and, in doing so, distributes control to end-users.

The idea behind the technology is to connect everyone and everything by all types of devices (including mobile devices), rather than specific software, platform or device. Since a user only requires a web-browser, there is no need for specific applications. Several Web 2.0 applications are also supported by a server operating in the background and in other cases are based on open-source technology.

Most Web 2.0 sites have the following three components:

* Rich internet applications - web-based applications that run in a web browser and do not require software installation, but still have the features of traditional applications.

* Open source software - software that permits users to study, change and improve the software (or source-code) and to redistribute it in modified form.

* Service-orientated architecture - resources on a network made available as Independent services that can be accessed without knowledge of their underlying platform implementation (Michelson 2007).

Visit the 2007 Web 2.0 awards: Over 200 Web 2.0 sites in 41 categories for more useful sites: www.seomoz.orç/web2.0

Differences between Web 1.0 and 2.0

Conceptually, Web 2.0 requires that users are able to update a website and code in real-time. The single most significant difference between Web 1.0 and 2.0 is the greater collaboration amongst users, service providers and enterprises and in doing so enabling them to contribute to the content. Web 2.0 is referred to as the "read-write web", compared to Web 1.0 sites, referred to as "read-only web" with static html pages (Getting 2007).

There are two schools of thought. The first, critical of Web 2.0, is of the opinion that there is no difference between the two; Web 2.0 is based on similar technologies. The second school, Web 2.0 champions, argue that: "Architecture of Participation", "the Network Effect (social network)" and "Harnessing the collective intelligence" are new (Seeley 2007). Web 2.0 is viewed as being more about a paradigm shift as to how people use the web and is not based on a technology shift. In essence, it is the evolution of the browser from a static request-response interface to a dynamic, asynchronous interface and can be compared according to the table (Author unknown 2007), but the distinction remains largely subjective.

Financial Services Industry

WEB 2.0 THE INTERNET IS VERSIONING... 1.0, 2.0

Accountancy SA, Sep 2007 by Rudman, Riaan J

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