Designing Web 2.0 Websites - Essay Example

Running head: WEB 2.0 Khamael Khamis s0199603 Executive summary There is biting impact that has been experienced with Web 2.0. More than the fact that it is the buzzword in many industries, it is the technology, which has forced many companies to adopt it with fast speed. There is therefore the need to adopt the technology to get the benefits that comes with it. Companies who are investing on this technology will stand to gain from this. As much as the technology should be taken and used in companies, there is needed to take caution and precautions so that the benefits can be realized. Many of the changes and the revolutions that are seen in this technology have been named with many names. Some people call it software-as-a-service, others call it user-generated content technology, and others call it read-write web. Whichever the name it takes, the technology empowers the users so that they also participate in the Web development. The growth of the Internet is expected to rise to larger heights. It is also expected that the Internet will go towards this direction. This prediction is so because of the flexibility of the technology and because of the fact that it is cost-effective to implement. With this technology, applications are united and subsystems integrated to form large and formidable levels of functionalities. The changes that are seen in the information and communication field are intense. With this competition, it is expected that offshore will overtake in-house jobs. Many IT jobs will be taken to other countries in the next 2 years in America. It has been estimated that not less than 3.3 million white-collar jobs and 130billion dollars will shift from the United States to countries like India and China. In addition, it is clear that competition is found around the globe without being found in one place alone. One example is Uruguay partners with Tata, the Indian outsourcing company. They are collaborating even though they are located miles apart. When the workers in Uruguay are asleep, the programmers in India are awake and working on the various projects. For the technologies to change and take shape there will be need to change the content that is taught to students in colleges and universities. There are changes that are seen to be taking place in the sector. This paper will look at the extent in which this new technology has taken. There is need to have the impact and the extent in which the technology has taken. Table of contents Executive summary 2 Table of contents 3 List of figures 4 Introduction 5 Web 2.0 in a flat world 6 Designing Web 2.0 websites 8 Issues for the web systems designer 8 One click online shopping 8 Recommendations 8 References 10 List of figures Figure 1: Collective Intelligence 7 Figure 2: Many applications of Web 2.0 7 Introduction The world we live in has communication and collaboration enabled. Companies have become international thus enabling workers to work anywhere in the world. This means that people no longer have to be confined to the geography where they are. Someone can work anywhere and still work for a company located hundreds of miles away. This is because there are high interconnections of computer networks, which has necessitated this (Solomon, & Schrum, 2007). This phenomenon has been created by technology. Companies to compete globally have used technology and these companies are becoming leaner and efficient in their operations. It is now possible for companies to track goods as they are transported from their original places to where they are going. This is made possible with the use of technology. This has enabled organizations and people alike to cut down their expenses. The web has changed also so that today, there are no static websites that used to be seen in the past. Today’s websites have been transformed into ones where the users can interact with the website and create information and post instantly. It is clear that we are able to work in a different ways with the use of online tools from the desktop-based tools that we were used to. We are no longer confined to looking for information but we are able to create and post information at the same time. The web has become a two-way traffic where people also have a say in the content that is being posted and read on it. This is popularly known as Web 2.0. The new paradigm shift in teaching and learning has enabled people to interact with the Internet like never before. There are many implications that are found here. This paper will look at the effects and the implications that the new technology has in the education sector. Emphasis will be laid on the effects that are seen in the multimedia industry. Web 2.0 and learning Education leaders and implementers should be able to understand what the Web mean for the learners and the tutors. Students will have to be prepared so that they face the new challenges that come with Web 2.0 and its associated tools. The beauty of this is the fact that many young people in many countries with developed systems are aware of these new tools. Given the fact that the new tools that have been brought about by the Web 2.0 technologies motivate students, they can be used to effect education too. They are found to spend long hours using the new tools on the Internet. This means that they can be made to learn using these tools too. Web 2.0 in a flat world There is a great desire by many to have employees developed to being intelligent. Although there is need to have a well-rounded education, there is a much stronger need to have students learn the skills that will enable them to be as competitive as possible in the next generation. According to Thomas Friedman, the world is regarded as flat; he argues that the advantages that were seen in the West some years ago have disappeared. The East is gaining ground making this a great time where the many factors are converging to make this a better world (Shuen, 2008). Business impacts are seen to be changing by the day. There is intensifying competition in the world of business attributed to the fact that most Asians have started bringing unrivalled competition after years of rising power. This competition is affecting the competition and the market of the European and American companies. These countries are finding it hard to penetrate the markets they had controlled for long (Hosie-Bounar, & Waxer, 2010). Features of Web 2.0 One feature that was common for these companies is the fact that the Web was used as a common platform. With the Web 2.0, the Internet is not added as an additional feature. Rather, it is regarded as one of the pillars that will be used in the Web business. Most of the sites that are integrated with Web 2.0 technologies make use of the resources of the users so that the reliability and the speed of the Internet are improved. It is also because of this that companies like Novell, which sponsor OpenSUSE software, encourage their users to make use of other users to download the software so that their servers are decongested. Another feature of Web 2.0 is the use of collective intelligence. This means that the Internet is no longer a one-way traffic where the users were required to gain access to the content and not alter but they are today possible to improve on the content by contributing to the content that has been submitted. This is the beauty of Web 2.0. There are various examples that make use of this technology. Other examples are the open source software, which are greatly on the increase. Figure 1 shows the issue of collective intelligence. Figure 1: Collective Intelligence Another feature is the fact that many sites which have implemented the Web 2.0 features have also made use of innovative Web capabilities, which come with the new technology. Most of these companies treat the users as the co-developers of the sites. This way, they are ahead of the competition always. There are also the use of scripting languages to create and develop Web [ages which engage the users in one way or another. There are emerging technologies like AJAX, which have further developed Web 2.0 capabilities. AJAX is a technology, which enables the search, and all associated processes to have content displayed as the user goes on with the searching (Alexander, 2006). The search is done at the background thus enabling the user to get a hint of what is happening. Many applications have been made out of the Web 2.0. These applications range from legal applications to the engineering applications. Web 2.0 is becoming an important aspect, which is not tied to IT alone. Figure 2 is an illustration for this. Figure 2: Many applications of Web 2.0 Designing Web 2.0 websites In the early 1990s, administering technology was a prime concern and since software, tools were reasonably primal. Given site development software, software designers of the early years devoted most of the resources in developing web sites that were austerely functional as compared to the recent ones who produce very complicated web sites. Equally, e-commerce was not yet veracity little was acknowledged about the budding online consumer (Alexander, 2006). The objective of the designer of the web sites is to give an edge that gathers for the vendor and the consumer needs. Nevertheless, the litigation menace linked to web design may impede these endeavors and thwart innovation. The online consumer habits will equally be limited. This may however pose a danger to the upcoming budding of web based e- commerce. Issues for the web systems designer One click online shopping Coming up with a commercial web site includes presenting a method for consumers to meet bills for their purchases and this edge has been the concentration of the litigation. With the elapse of time, picking items and placing in the shopping cart online by the consumer does not mean a purchase as already taken place. However, due to high shipping cost a high rate of abandonment as been recorded. In addition, requirements such as registering before placing an item in the cart as led to abandonment. As result of this Amazon.com have come up a system to allow users to make an order, pay, and specify the arrangements for the delivery for the items purchased via web site, this is by a single click on the mouse (Reilly, 2007). Recommendations One of the recommendations that I would suggest with the use of this technology is to create a task force that will oversee the developments of this technology. This is required so that the handling and the deployment of this technology will be on a guided basis. Each company should have their own task forces, which will handle this. This will ensure that the implementers are in tandem with the technology. The task forces should be concerned with making sure that the tools that come with this technology should be integrated well with the internal architecture. Another recommendation is that there should be continued presence of the companies offering the tools and services of Web 2.0. This will ensure that the developments will be realized and even taken to greater heights. Employees and all staff should be allowed to interact in the public space that is made possible with this technology. There should be public space staff that will task with developing policy on the use of this technology (Solomon, & Schrum, 2007). There should be the development of security policy so that the use of this technology does not bring any harm to the public and to the company itself. There should be programs developed so that people and the public are aware of the harm that the technology may bring. My last recommendation is that the tools that come with this technology should be free and not be blocked. There is a tendency that the tools that are used with Web 2.0 are blocked. Blocking this tool will disconnect the company and the government from the public. Web Systems Design, Litigation, Online Consumer Behavior References Alexander, B 2006, “Web 2.0: A new wave of innovation for teaching and learning”, Learning. Vol. 6, No. 6, pp. 54-60. Hosie-Bounar, J, & Waxer, B 2010, Web 2.0: Making the web work for you, illustrated, Course Technology, New Jersey. Reilly, T 2007, “What is Web 2.0: Design patterns and business models for the next generation software, Communications and strategies. Vol. 3, No.5, pp. 43-45. Shuen, A 2008, Web 2.0: A study guide, O’Reilly Media, Inc., New York. Solomon, G, & Schrum, L 2007, Web 2.0: New tools, new schools, ISTE. Read More