I was going through some boxes the other day and stumbled across some old Prodigy project documents. Besides making me nostalgic for the end of the dotcom boom, It really got me thinking back to how long people have been talking about the semantic web and Web 2.0. Back in November 2001, while we were wrapping up the Prodigy 7.0 client kit, I was tasked along a Prodigy Product Manager named Michael Frias to begin work on the next generation of Prodigy’s applications. The project was named Genesis. While there’s lots of marketing mumbo-jumbo behind the name Michael and I came up with, the core goal of the project was to create applications that gave people the ability to use their data and information to interact, communicate and collaborate with other people, devices and applications as they choose. Here is an excerpt from the Vision and Scope document that Michael and I wrote back in 2001.

Genesis is about creating an architecture that is oriented around people, instead of around a specific device, application, service, or network. It is about giving people the ability to use their own data and information to interact, communicate and collaborate with other people. Today’s emerging technology allows companies to build solutions that combine the best of PC and Internet computing to deliver rich, broadband solutions for communication, information, and entertainment. In the next few years the Web will go through a transformation to deliver programmable solutions. The very medium that has helped to revolutionize computing will also help to revolutionize applications. The Internet is everywhere, and it makes sense to base the next generation of Internet applications on the very standards that made the World Wide Web what it is today.

Sounds a lot like what people are calling Web 2.0 to me. So what is Web 2.0?

What is Web 2.0?

In general Web 2.0 is the broad sweeping term that is used to describe the Web’s transition toward a full computing platform - where rich web interfaces will replace traditional desktop applications. Needless to say a Web application replacing desktop applications is a fundamental part of Web 2.0 -here are some other things that will help drive Web 2.0:

• The user comes first - An increased focus on user experience and user-centric computing.
• The user’s friends/family run a close second – Social networking will dictate user’s goals and actions.
• There and Back Again - Web Standards! - Use of semantic mark-up and standards based technologies (e.g. XHTML, XML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX)
• Tearing down the walls – No more walled garden applications. Aggregation and syndication are a big part of Web 2.0 (RSS/ATOM Feeds)
• Learn From Search Optimization – URLs will be more meaningful to allow easy discovery of the applications people want.
• Service Based Architecture – Web services (SOAP and XML)

Mixed up in the mishmash of three letter acronyms is one common denominator. User Experience. There is no denying that the Web has changed the way the average person experiences things. Look at the wild popularity of fledgling Web 2.0 applications like Google Maps, MSN Virtual Earth, Basecamp and Flickr.

Everyone including Google, Microsoft and Macromedia is moving full steam ahead with helping to deliver these experiences. Whether they are talking about “The Digital Decadeâ€? or about how “Experience Mattersâ€? they know that by properly using “Web 2.0″ technology businesses can take advantage of the largely untapped economic opportunity that an engaging, seamless experience offer. They understand how technology affects the Experience Economy.

Emerging web application architectures like Ruby on Rails applications that make building data driven AJAX based applications easy, have had a huge impact on Web 2.0 in the last several months - but I am sure that there will be LOTS more changes.

If you want to become a Web 2.0 Guru I would recommend reading some of the following:

• Read/Write Web - A Web 2.0 great blog run by Richard MacManus. Richard has a book due out in 2006 on the subject of Web 2.0.
• AJAX: A New Approach to Web Applications - Although the technologies in AJAX are not new, Jesse James Garrett’s article is a great introduction/overview of AJAX.
• Relax, Everything Is Deeply Intertwingled - A good Web 2.0 overview and definition.
• Design For Web 2.0 - Article and questions on designing for Web 2.0 by Jason Kottke.
• Alan Kleymeyer and Stephen Dulaney over at SocialDynamX always have insightful comments on Rich UI and User Experience in general.