Web 2.0

Web 2.0 describes how the internet has become driven by users, converging the line between producer and consumer. 

A popular phrase to encompass the new generation of internet applications that enable content sharing and collaboration. The term was coined by in 1999 and later popularized by Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty at the first Web 2.0 Conference in 2004. Although the term mimics the numbering of software versions, it does not denote a formal change in the nature of the World Wide Web, but merely describes a general change that occurred during this period as interactive websites proliferated and came to overshadow the older, more static websites of the original Web. 
UGC- User Generated Content allows users to create and edit content. 
One constant change to the internet is the improvement in connection speed. Higher-bandwidth cable and increased computer memory have created a global network that can quickly send and receive multimedia content. It is now possible to view fairly high quality video, seamlessly over the internet, without waiting a long time for it to download. People are rapidly adopting broadband connections in most developed countries and this has had a huge impact on the quality of user experience.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Web 2.0 describes the current state of the internet, which has more user-generated content and usability for end-users compared to its earlier incarnation, Web 1.0.
• Web 2.0 does not refer to any specific technical upgrades to the internet; it refers to a shift in how the Internet is used.
• In the new age of the Internet, there is a higher level of information sharing and interconnectedness among participants.
• Web 2.0 has allowed for the creation of applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, TikTok, and Wikipedia.
• Web 2.0 has paved the way for Web 3.0, the next generation of the web that uses many of the same technologies to approach problems differently.

Dan Gilmor talks about ‘’the former audience’’ vs ‘’the Big Media Danseurs’’:

The former audience: Once mere consumers of news, the audience is learning how to get a better, timelier report. It's also learning how to join the process of journalism, helping to create a massive conversation and, in some cases, doing a better job than the professionals. 

The ‘Internet Slowdown’ protest for net neutrality needs to target regulators

This article is more than 8 years old

Dan Gillmor

A term that is used in We The Media is ‘Big Media’. The dinosaurs of journalism who are having trouble adjusting to the new ways in which information flows. And according to Dan Gillmor it won’t “die off quietly. It will, with government’s help, try to control new media rather than see its business models eroded by it.” Besides that Gillmor also has critique on the cable and phone companies. The chapter The Empire Strikes Back is especially critical of the ways of distribution of cables and wires. It questions who gets the biggest share, and that we should not let this go by unnoticed.

Henry Jenkins argues that media convergence goes beyond a mere technological shift, insisting that it also represents a shift in industrial, cultural, and social paradigms, where “consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content.”