Who will build Web 2.0?, by Jeffrey Veen

Who will build Web 2.0?

Anil Dash makes some excellent observations in his latest post on Web Development Trends for 2006. All of them are astute, and serve as an accurate wake-up call for those just becoming enamored with new technologies.

But what resonates with me is his advice to those bemoaning these trends as rehashing of existing technologies -- the latest bandwagon to jump on; the new thing to throw money at.

No whining, just go do some reading. Buy some O'Reilly books or Google up some docs online, and then get hacking. By the time you're good enough to start posting your sample applications, employers will be searching for your blog just to find the talent they need.

Yeah, no kidding. We're rediscovering what the web is good for. The hard problems aren't solved yet. We've got a lot of work to do. Please help.

This entry was written by Jeffrey Veen and posted 8 September 2005 at 10:26 AM. It was filed under Technology, Web Design.

Comments

1. On 8 September 2005 at 8:39 PM Joe Reger wrote:

Hi Jeffrey! We agree that the hard problems are only coming to light. Today we put up a screencast of one of the problems we're working on solving... importing XML Schema to create custom log types:
http://www.joereger.com/entry-logid7-eventid4488.log

Let us know what you think.

Best,

Joe Reger

2. On 8 September 2005 at 9:23 PM vanderwal wrote:

Today I stopped worrying about building Web .5 and am focussing on Web 2.0 only. I have been spending much time thinking about how to build the next steps and seeing the gaping potholes Web 2.0 throws before us. These are the challenges I love. So, from here on it is full-time working on the future now.

3. On 8 September 2005 at 11:40 PM craig wrote:

I'm so over Web 2.0, bring on Web 3.0.
If I can save my shit online, thats cool. But unless I can synchronise web apps running locally with online, using the same interface, Web 2.0 is merely half arsed. Still, a good stepping stone tho. Gimme, gimme WebOS.

4. On 9 September 2005 at 6:33 AM vanderwal wrote:

Craig, nails it. Personal use and reuse has to be central (not sure where I have heard that before, <grin>). This use and reuse (which syncing is integral) seems to be the interest and focus of many out there and a giant frustration that must be over come.

5. On 12 September 2005 at 6:57 AM aw wrote:

Jeff,

Where did the term Web 2.0 come from?

-simple aw

6. On 12 September 2005 at 3:24 PM veen wrote:

I heard Tim O'Rielly talking recently about coining the term Web 2.0. He said Dale Doherty, an editor there, came up with it in a meeting, and it stuck.

7. On 13 September 2005 at 2:11 PM Scott Isaacs wrote:

Jeff,

Long time :-). I suggest you check out http://www.start.com/pdc and http://www.start.com/developer. We have opened up Start.com as a reusable platform (see my blog for more details).

8. On 15 September 2005 at 6:26 AM Jason wrote:

I think everyone has some great points here. I personally am having issues moving forward with Web 2.0. UX Week 2005 spawned some great ideas in my own mind about the direction I'd like to head, alas, the sector I work in doesn't allow for such growth. As Thomas said:

"Today I stopped worrying about building Web .5 and am focusing on Web 2.0 only."

I wish I could say the same. My experience is still in its infancy as far as number of years focusing on the right way to do things, so, for the time being, I'm going to stay in the trenches and try to move the Fed to .5.1.

My only issue with staying in the Fed sector is seeing the problems, giving solutions, and then being shot down because my ideas are "new" or "out of scope." When does new technology take hold? When do you see the holes in your own organization and realize that there is a problem and the same managers that shoot me down realize that they will be held accountable?

I know that Web 2.0 currently may not be the path to take in the government due to accessibility issues (being hashed out with some tinkering I’m doing), but can we at least get to Web 1.5? A little web standards and cross platform/browser compatibility never hurt anybody.

9. On 20 September 2005 at 9:55 AM sean wrote:

jason,
management, in any bureaucratic organization, wants to skip the "unneccesary" investments like standards. but if you negotiate to get standards in place, then comes the possibilities of focusing on the need for shared data. then...? stay at the helm!

it's a tough, thankless gig, but your efforts, at some point, will make a difference. and maybe years down the line, the Fed will change not only due to the policymakers on the hill, but due to progressive experience design efforts such as yours.

10. On 20 September 2005 at 12:08 PM Jason wrote:

Sean,

I'm seeing this more and more everyday. I've actually gone to previous Fed bosses that I keep in touch with to ask them what sells in the Fed. In turn, I've actually walked away with good "buzz words" and ideas of how to push the "unnecessary."

It's sad that the job is the way it is, but hopefully one day, it will all pay off. It's hard to sit here and see the ills and horrible fouls of organizations that banter back and forth about which multi-million dollar software platform to buy so they can independently support Word, PDF, Excel and PowerPoint, yet complain that they can't effectively access the data they need. It's especially frustrating when I see the answer in front of me, yet no one listens. I guess another five years of experience will push the envelope to a desired level and maybe, just maybe, data sharing in the government will be better.

Thanks for the kind and encouraging words Sean.

Peace and Web Standards grease,
J

11. On 21 September 2005 at 1:10 PM Bry wrote:

Craig,

So long as you make sure that your Web 2.0 applications still work on the Blackberry browser, I say go for it. As it is, I can't even use Tadalist on there because of one tiny piece of presentational JavaScript.

12. On 24 September 2005 at 11:32 PM Michael wrote:

Some people are getting the wrong idea about Web 2.0, too--because they don't see many (any?) examples of true Web 2.0 sites and apps, they think that it's just new hype or a new acronym. See this post at SimpleWeb.com to see what I mean:

http://thesimpleweb.blogspot.com/2005/09/ajax-whats-in-name.html

13. On 26 September 2005 at 11:08 AM Jason Anderson wrote:

Web 2.0? How 1999. We're on Web 5.2-rc2 now, didn't you read the announcement on your RSS feeds? Sheesh! :-)