1b. Web 2.0

Can we have a class period on RSS and XML? My head is spinning trying to figure out exactly what it is! The Digital Web Magazine article seems to be over my head.

what is web 2.0? (software, technology, social definition, etc)
From what I understand, web 2.0, basically, seems to focus more on the letting everyone be a part of their web experience instead of a few people who are "behind the scenes." The web being a "platform" and enabling "collective intelligence" were phrases that were tossed around a lot. Simplicity also is a point that was stressed. AJAX, RSS, and Ruby on Rails were mentioned a lot when it came to technology. I don't understand what all those are, though. 37signals, Amazon, Yahoo, Flickr, and Google were often cited for "outlasting" Web 1.0 and fitting into Web 2.0. "Folksonomies" and "the long tail" were two phrases that I'm not sure I quite understand.

is web 2.0 a real thing? why?

Good question!! Some people certainly think so. Others believe that it's a marketing ploy. And then the Rough Type writer got on his soapbox about how it's not a religion (I still don't see how he got started on that!).
I suppose that if a company can make different versions of a program, each time fixing bugs and making it more user-friendly, than the web can have different versions, too. It's just a matter of opinion whether web 2.0 fixes bugs. I enjoyed the PCworld article for that reason.

why do some people scoff at the idea of a web 2.0?
Because, they don't believe that "collective intelligence" is better than "professionals", for one thing. Wikipedia was used as a negative example for "collective intelligence." For another thing, they want the bugs from web "1.0" to be fixed. People don't consider web "1.0" over and done with; how do you chart that?

how are you already involved in web 2.0?
Well, you made us get this blog and use it. The blog is an example of a people-centric, "platform" web.

what does being a web designer in the era of web 2.0 mean?
I'm not entirely sure, b/c I don't understand RSS, etc. but I think that people want simpler pages. Flickr's "slick" interface and 37signals' simples programs were talked about numerous times. Also, the fact that the average person doesn't want to think about what to do or know what goes on behind the scenes should be considered when building a webpage.