Web 2.0 Innovations

Innovations associated with “Web 2.0” Web-based applications and desktops

Ajax, the rich internet application technique has prompted the development of web-sites that copy personal computer applications like (M.S. Office package) word processing, the spreadsheet, and slide-show presentation while some wiki sites replicate many features of PC authoring applications. Some sites perform collaboration and project management functions. Web 2.0 also innovated various browser based operating system that works like an application platform not merely operating system as it copy the user experience of desktop operating systems having similar features and function like a PC environment. They have as their distinctive characteristic to run within any modern browser.

Rich Internet applications
The new feature included in the Web 2.0 based application in which user does not need to refresh the page, the whole page or a portion of page get refreshed automatically like in some real time web page. E.g. Cricket websites, Share Market etc. Some of the richinternet application techniques are Ajax, Adobe Flash, Flex, Nexaweb, OpenLaszlo and Silverlight and many more.

Server-side software
Web 2.0 application server functions on existing web server architecture but strongly depend on back-end software. The weaving of software varies only nominally due to methods of publishing via using dynamic content management but web services usually need highly vigorous database and workflow support. It has analogues to traditional intranet functionality of an application server. Vendor moves towards to date fall either under a universal server approach or under a web-server plugin approach. (A universal server refers to a common server that bundles most of the necessary functionality in a single server platform while under a plugin refers to standard publishing tools enhanced with API interfaces and other tools.)

Client-Side Software
Web 2.0 provides several extra functions that a usercan use according to its own ability and requirements. It can be accessed in various forms like an HTML page, Javascript, Flash, Silverlight or Java. All these methods reduce the server workload and increase the accessibility of the application.

XML and RSS
Web 2.0 supporters consider the syndication of site content as a Web 2.0 feature includes because it standardized protocols that allows users to implement data for other purpose like for using another website, a browser plugin or a separate desktop application. XML based protocols like RSS, RDF and atom allow syndication. As the popularity of these technologies increase by name of Web feed because of its high usability the RSS icon replaced by more user-friendly icons.

Specialized protocols

Social networking sites uses the specialized protocols like FOAF (Friend of A Friend) and XFN (XHTML Friends Network), which enhance the functionality of the site by allowing end users to interact directly without centralized website.

Web protocols

Web communication protocols support the Web 2.0 infrastructure. Major Web protocols are:

• REST (Representational State Transfer) provides a way to access and manipulates data on a server using the HTTP verbs GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.
• SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) includes POSTing XML messages and requests to a server to follow the quite complex but pre-defined instructions.

Usually servers use proprietary APIs, even though standard web-service APIs have also been used vastly. Web service communications mostly involve some form of XML.

Besides above protocols, WSDL (Web Services Description Language) is also used for web services. The composition of WSDL with UDDI is expected to promote the use of Web services worldwide.

Web 2.0 and Language Learning Technologies

Web 2.0 technologies are new and evolving techniques for learning language, but new added features like video, file sharing, blogs, wikis,  podcastingin and many more included features in Web 1.0 have made Web 2.0 very popular among the scholars, educators and students. The user of these technologies have appreciated the social networking and wikis aspect quating it as a natural helper for a constructivist learning methodology.