While not technically Web 2.0, podcasting is a phenomenon that began around the Web 2.0 revolution. In recent years I’ve had people ask me what a podcast is and what they’re used for, so in this post I’ll try to clear up some of the confusion surrounding podcasts.
In an earlier post, I wrote about the how Sir Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web. Although today many use the phrases Internet and World Wide Web as synonymous terms, they are technically two different entities. The Internet is simply the giant interconnecting computer network that links millions of computers from all over the globe. It is comprised of the actual connections between the different computers, and different services operate on top of this interconnecting network. One such service is the World Wide Web, which runs on the internet and is a collection of documents that are linked via hypertext. Other examples of services that run on top of the Internet are e-mail and file sharing.
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The European Renaissance was a time of renewed learning, a time when classical knowledge from ancient Greek and Roman times were reintegrated into society. Some key figures in the Renaissance were called polymaths, also known as Renaissance Men or Homo Universalis (universal man). Polymaths had a wide variety of knowledge from many different fields of study.
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Social networking websites are key players in the Web 2.0 revolution. For those who aren’t familiar with the idea of social networking sites, they allow users to create a profile for themselves, usually users add a picture and list whatever information they feel comfortable sharing with others (age, interests, career info). Once a user creates a profile, he or she can access other user’s profiles, create a list of contacts, and communicate with those contacts. The two most famous examples of social networking websites are Facebook and MySpace, although there are many different sites attempting to differentiate themselves in order to attract users. One example that I learned about via Ars Technica is Yahoo’s Kickstart, which is aimed at connecting University students with alumni.
In recent years, many different varieties of attacks have been created in order to perform malicious acts on the computers of unsuspecting users. These attacks are capable of stealing data, corrupting or deleting files, and doing any other activities meant to disrupt a person’s normal computing activities. In order to defend against these attacks, Internet users need to be knowledgeable about any and all possible attacks to their systems. This post will examine some of the threats facing information systems today.
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The introduction of the Internet in the mid 1990s changed the way the world communicated. People were suddenly able to access a wealth of information and websites from all around the world. The Internet has had a major effect on businesses, which had to adapt to the new challenges and opportunities offered by the Internet. The electronics industry in particular was drastically changed with the introduction of e-business practices. Retailers of electronic goods were faced with a vast increase in competition, and customers had the chance to purchase goods for the lowest possible price.
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Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) is an emerging technology that is used to deliver digital television through an Internet network to a subscriber’s home. The television channels are sent to the subscriber’s premises via packets in the same way internet traffic is transported. This allows telephone companies such as AT&T to offer services to compete with cable and satellite television companies. Using IP technology is much more efficient on a network, and allows for companies like AT&T to deliver television service on their network.
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Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the known as the man who invented the World Wide Web. Without his contributions, we would not have hyperlinks or webpages. For this fact alone he should be recognized as one of the key figures of the Information Renaissance. Today he is a Knight of the British Empire and works as the director for the World Wide Web Consortium, the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web which is responsible for overseeing the future development of the web.
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The term 'Web 2.0' is used to describe the new websites that bring about a greater level of interactivity, creativity, and collaboration amongst users. Web 2.0 websites offer more services than what was available in the Web 1.0 era. Google Documents is an example of a Web 2.0 application, and features on-line, browser based word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation capabilities. For this post I'll focus mainly on the word processing application in Google Docs.
Johannes Gutenberg was born in Germany around the year 1400. He is famous for inventing movable type, which revolutionized the bookmaking process in Europe. Gutenberg's invention played an important role in the European Renaissance by helping make information more accessible to more people.
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