h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Web 2.0 But Were Afraid to Ask - A10441360
Author: Jerkwood - U3499085

Hello again,

after skimping this article too fast into the peer review I'd like you to help me finishing it here in the Writing Workshop.

Thanks for any comment (will not take it personally : ) and greets,

Jerkwood

Well done!

OK, I'll admit.
I have read and understood nothing so I will sit back and wait for all the clever peeps to come rushing over and pick up the pieces after, ok?



W

Hello Jerkwood, comments shouldn't be personal in the first place, so you should be fine
I hope all the people who are in command of the English language will come here and help you with it, I think the subject is fascinating, just a bit difficult to grasp for the uniniciated like me

Hi Jerkwood.

I'd never heard of Wed 2.0 before, but after reading your article I felt I had a fairly clear idea of what it was. The linked BBC page gave the same impressions, so that's good.

Web 2.0 does seem to be a somewhat nebulous term, doesn't it? Hard to pin down. But basically applying to anything other than static webpages.

So what I'm doing now, filling in a form on a webpage with information which will shortly (when I hit the post button) appear on that webpage is, in a very basic sense, a form of Web 2.0, yes? I from my little laptop here in the middle of a foreign country, can change the information displayed on the BBC's servers! That's power, no?

And yet Web 2.0 in the full sense of the term means much more than that. It includes things like wordprocessing programmes which work through your browser, so that all the actual processing is done in a remote location. You send information over the Internet through your browser (rather as I'm doing now, yes?) and receive back your processed document. Do I have that right? I've never used one of these things. And it doesn't require any additional software downloads, yes?

You mention Google Maps, which work through the web browser, but not Google Earth, a dowloadable program which also works over the Internet. Would this latter count as Web 2.0? Or does it have nothing to do with the web at all?

TRiG.

I've tried google support, and it is

Hello TRiG,

you are right in many aspects, let me just pinpoint them here:

- Yes, Web 2.0 is somewhat nebulous (which did'nt make it easier to write about).
- Yes, no static webpages involved.
- According to the Web 2.0 - guys, h2g2 has gathered the social aspects of a Web 2.0 - page but not exactly the technical aspects. Pressing a "post" - button is not (always) necessary on Web 2.0 pages, they more behave like real applications, no need to reload all the time or press "submit" to transfer the data.
- You are right about using your browser to do things like word processing and not to have to install software for it.
- Google Earth is a downloadable program. It gets its informations from the Internet but it is not used in a Browser: That is not Web 2.0

Hope this clarified the thing a little bit. Writing the article I tried to pinpoint these too, but it was difficult not to repeat myself all the time ("... only in browsers ...", "... not only by pressing 'post' but rather dynamically ...")

Greetings, Jerkwood

Yes, they do some nice thingies using Web 2.0 (but not on their search pages)...

Yes, Google Earth is of course an Internet programme, but it has nothing to do with the web at all, really, does it? Forget I mentioned it.



Take something like Gmail. It autosaves drafts as you're still writing them. (As opposed to something like h2g2. Hootoo will not receive information from me until I hit either the post or the preview button. While I'm writing this the information is sitting on my computer, and is sent to the BBC only when I hit a button. But Gmail is receiving info as I type, and is saving it in case something goes wrong at my end. Interesting.)

I know nothing about this, and so can't really help you with content.

TRiG.

1. You'll need to change the title to get this into the Edited Guide. It's a bit too wordy for them, I think.

2. There don't seem to be many people commenting here who know enough to give you any constructive information. Perhaps if you started a thread in <./>Askh2g2</.> pointing people here you'd get some more input? That's just a notion.

TRiG.

Have you followed the link to Zimbra, TriG ? I've 'done' the tour, now that looks like a sophisticated bit of software. Not sure I'd trust it, though

Well, Web 2.0 will generate a kind of sophisticated web-ased-software but by writing "... Not sure I'd trust it, though" you came to the very heart of the conclusion in my article

And, TRiG, you do understand what Web 2.0 is all about. Don't tell me otherwise...

Greets, Jerkwood

I did ?
I'm not trusting anything until somebody proves me that it is safe, and this Zimbra-thingy would know more about my mails and things than I'd want anybody but me to know

Well, if I do know, it's thanks to you. As I said, I'd never heard of it before. Well done!

TRiG.

Well... so much for the complements.

Hush, ladies and gentlemen, I am here to get knowledge of where I

- am not structured enough in this article
- am doing (more or less) obvious errors talking english
- am using wrong words for right things
- am simply wrong (in semantics and syntactics)

I want to learn from you. Take off your velvet gloves, try to hit me : ) C'mon there's much more than that!! ; )

Greets, Jerkwood

Hi Jerkwood, everyone this side of the pond is either asleep or sozzled Why don't you take up the suggestion and post a thread to Askh2g2: A148907 to attract people to comment here: F57153?thread=2653122 ?

Again taking your good advice (but I am not that ready to change the title yet : ), thanks for the time you spent on such a nerd like me.

See you around her next week (going to short holidays tomorrow noon).

Greets, jw.

You don't change anything, JW... OK, leave it for now and we'll see if you don't come back to some comments. If not, we will see what else to do.

Have a great time!

G'night




W

Come on, be fair. I edited the article for a fair amount, seeing that it is not ready for peer review (as I thought before), so I switched it to the "Edited Guide Writing Workshop" after you asked me to do so. I even was "Asking for help on a Web 2.0 - article" some minutes ago (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/F19585?thread=2659984), that after you (I got to confess: twice) asked me to do. But for now I am not ready to change the title... - fair is fair, or? : ) Greets, jw

You do not have to do anything, JW. Anything any of us say is just a suggestion. However, for the entry to get into the Edited Guide, it has to fit the EG Writing Guidelines and you need to read those, I think.

Having said that, we don't just have the Edited Guide, we also have the UnderGuide, and researchers also write articles for the Post and other onsite areas. For those, you don't need to comply with the Writing Guidelines at all.

Do have a look around, start at the Front Page perhaps and browse a bit to get a feel for the site. You are welcome to ask me any questions, or ask your ACE. If you click on anyone's name, you will come to their personal space...



W