The Transformation of the Web:

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The Transformation of the Web
How Communities Shape the Information we Consume
by Josef Kolbitsch and Hermann Maurer
Podcasts
Social Networking
Wikipedia
Blogs
Web 2.0
Wikinews
Wikis
File Sharing

• Reviewed by
• Adam Tuck, Jason Wang, Zlat Djuric

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We are going to

• explore the context of the publication
• identify the formal and organizational attributes
  of the paper
• present the central argument of the paper and
  supporting evidence
• critically analyze and evaluate the presented
  ideas and arguments
• conclude the review and suggest recommendations

Organization of presentation
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Site of Publication

• Journal of Universal Computer Science, vol. 12,
  no. 2 (2006), pg. 187-213

Authors

• Josef Kolbitsch and Hermann Maurer
• Graz University of Technology, Austria

Context of the publication
Significance

• A rare academic paper discussing Web 2.0
  phenomenon
• Breaks down the latest development in information
  systems and technologies
• Sponsored by one of computer science pioneers in
  the field of knowledge management systems

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Formal attributes

• an academic paper indented to provide an overview
  of the field and draw conclusions
• heavily based on point and evidence method to
  establish arguments

Intended Audience

• academia and general public
• intended as a light introduction to a
  newly-formed field

Structure of the paper
Organization

• Well-formed essay format with a clear thesis and
  supporting evidence
• smoothly flows between different arguments
  supporting its thesis
• heavily employs analogy, cause and effect, and
  empirical methods to reinforce the main idea

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Main themes

• this paper serves as an overview of Web 2.0
  technologies
• self-organizing technologies facilitate user
  generated content on the Web
• the flow of content is now bottom-up rather than
  top-down
• changes made through
• technology
• fundamental mind shift
• ant colony analogy used to describe collective
  intelligence
• critical mass required for these principles to
  work

Central Argument
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Expression of self and collaborative discussions

• A way of expressing the thoughts and feelings of
  the author and their actions and reactions to
  others
• Types of blogs and applications blog as a diary,
  newsfeed, review site, personal journals and
  filters.
• Blogs can be used in a professional manner
• Advantage If readers gain information on things
  they would rather have opinionated by other
  consumers.
• Disadvantage if filter-style blogs offer biased
  comments to external information
• Blogs are usually used in conjunction with
  several other technologies (e-email, instant
  messaging, wikis

Blogs
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Collaborative authoring online environment

• facilitates rapid development and
  self-organization of websites
• gathering of collective intelligence through user
  participation
• continuous user content improvements through
  evolutionary cycles
• in technical terms, a web-based content
  management system with a simple rights management
  system but with powerful version tracking utility
• Applied in various fields (online customer
  support documentation, organizational knowledge
  base, digital library, etc.)
• Benefits flexible structure, easy to access,
  use, and collaborate, blurs the line between
  readers and authors
• Shortcomings credibility of information,
  vandalism, varying quality across the system
• Solution hierarchical wiki ???
• Examples Wikipedia and Wikinews

Wikis
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Peoples Online Encyclopedia

• free, multi-lingual, wiki-based repository of
  knowledge where everyone is reader, author, and
  editor at the same time
• build on free contributions of its community
  members and their collaboration
• regulated by neutral point of view policy to
  preserve objective and unbiased information
• Advantages instantly updatable, incredibly broad
  and vast, direct cross-referencing and indexing
• Drawbacks quality standards, imbalance of
  emphasis, sensitive information and privacy
  issues, vandalism, volume of information, edit
  wars

Wikipedia
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Unbiased News Feed

• unfiltered source of news by community-based news
  providers
• alternative to commercial news agencies, like
  Reuters, Associated Press, United Press, etc.
• prevent deliberate omission or suppression of
  news by mainstream media
• defend freedom of speech and freedom of press
  worldwide
• Wikinews articles are completed and approved by
  community and are set as read-only
• Challenges reliability of information, fast
  expiry date of articles, lack of ability to
  express opinion and add comments
• So far, limited success

Wikinews
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Audio/Video Blogs

• content producers blog audio content on regular
  basis
• applications discussed
• amateur shows
• educational applications
• other types of podcasting include
• photocasting, which is broadcast of photographs
  through RSS
• vodcasting or video podcasting
• also used for content that does not come
  directly from users (OCED, 38)
• less accessible than other web 2.0 technologies

Podcasts
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Free exchange of digital content

• peer-to-peer network, usually associated with
  pirating, has evolved
• discusses web-based file storage and
  organizational tools
• uses Flickr as prime example
• allows free photo upload and organization
• tagging system classifies photographs
• metadata not conventionally created by users,
  but professionals
• raises issues of ambiguity
• Bit Torrent a prime example of web 2.0 file
  sharing
• the service automatically gets better the more
  people use it (OReilly, 3)

File Sharing
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Online User Communities

• The small world hypothesis, The six degrees of
  separation, people in our society are related to
  each other through friends and friends of friends
• Social networking allows friends to maintain
  their relationships, chat and share information
  online
• Examples Friendster, MySpace, Googles Orkut as
  general-purpose networks, and OpenBC as
  specialized and professional networking service
• Most of the time users add friends manually. A
  social network that is generated manually is
  often very accurate in the connection made
• An alternative, automatic creation of social
  networks are not as precise
• The concern with privacy of the members of a
  social network. Detailed personal information
  stored in user profiles sold to third parties

Social Networks
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Our thoughts on the paper

• Overall well written and organized. Strongly
  states argument on user participation in Web 2.0,
  bottom-up approach, and collective intelligence
• Arguments are logical and backed up with plenty
  of examples
• Thorough explanation with alternative view points
  along with advantages and disadvantages in almost
  all subjects.
• However, paper is unbalanced in proportion. Wikis
  and Social networks were very thorough, but
  Blogs, Podcasts, and File sharing in contrast,
  were relatively short.
• Sudden suggestion of future research in
  conclusion create discomfort in the flow of the
  paper

Paper Review
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Domain under observation
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Real Web 2.0 domain
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Real Web 2.0 domain
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Thank you for your attention
Any questions, comments, or suggestions?