In class we discussed the differences between Web 1.0 and its evolution into what we have today, Web 2.0. The main takeaway I got from both the reading and the discussions is that Web 2.0 focuses more on community and co-creating. A collaborative web. This idea of collaboration is also everchanging, from the early days of Wikipedia edits and suggestions, to now, where groups can work together to control video game streams, using the chat comments to control the movements and inputs of the characters on screen. And while in both cases, intentional errors and trolling occur, the internet is better off with this level of mass involvement and creation.

Digressing a little, in the reading ‘New Media: A Critical Introduction”, Lister talks about the idea of The Perpetual Beta being a big change when Web 2.0 came to be, which is something that I had never really thought the internet lived without, but makes total sense to be a feature in the self-proclaimed ‘(or maybe I’ve dubbed it as the) ‘collaborative age of the web’. This idea of applications, software, firmware all updating and receiving feedback on what the community wants and doesn’t want is a perfect encapsulation of this idealistic user moulded web, and while many people feel like big companies don’t always listen to what users and the community want, I’m sure it’s really that developers can’t help but hear what we have to say.

Instagram in particular is heavily in a ‘perpetual beta’, with updates seemingly coming week in week out. And while it’s usually just for bug and crash fixes, the developers are always on the lookout to make the platform better for the users (and the shareholders)

The idea of an ever-growing Web 2.0 makes me excited for what is to come in the future for this user-driven, collaborative world wide web. Will this ‘Big Media’ relationship continue? Will we be enslaved to our tablets and fully integrate and collaborate with the internet? Who knows! All I can hope is that Grammarly learns to autocorrect my individual ‘i’ to ‘I’, cause:

(I’m really sorry for that ^^^^^)

Lister, M et al 2009, New Media: A Critical Introduction. Routledge, 2009