Misty2.0

Have I told you all about my nephew Jimmy? (Good Lord, you may be thinking, How many nephews does this woman have? Five, to be precise, and five nieces, too!) Twenty-three and blessed with a college degree, a good job with an oil-field support company, the love and support of his family, a cute little house, and a loyal dog, Jim lives a pretty sweet life.

Add to the aforementioned qualities his classical good looks, and you have what matchmakers and mothers of single women refer to as " a good catch."

Although girls have always flocked around Jimmy, I particularly like his current girlfriend Misty. A dark-haired, dark-eyed nursing student putting herself through school while working at a fast food restaurant, she should not be mistaken with the other Misty, the one he dated a few years back... In fact, to lessen the chances of confusion, the family affectionately refers to the two girls as Misty1.0 and Misty2.0.

When I first heard the moniker, I understood 2.0 to represent an newer (and hopefully improved) version of the original, but my knowledge was limited to Jimmy's dating life - I had no real comprehension of what these terms meant in the world of technology. That is, until I started to learn2play.

Looking back, there was no "thing" that required us to define web2.0 and explain its fundamental difference from web1.0, but it seems like it would have been a good idea, in fact a good place to start, an organizing concept of sorts. It could have been one of the 23 things: explore the basic differences between web1.0 and 2.0. Surely Wikipedia has some quick entry on the topic?

(I'm going to be embarrassed if there was and I just missed it, but honestly I don't think there was... I'll go back and double-check just to be sure. Well, you know what? Even if there was and I didn't give it full attention, I am now, so there! I stick to my principle that learning occurs when it is needed! Anyway, I digress...)

So, just for my own purposes, and yours too if you care to play along, I'm going to begin reviewing what I've learned beginning with the difference between 1.0 and 2.0. From computer guru Tim O'Reilly as cited in howstuffworks.com:

"Here's a collection of strategies O'Reilly considers to be part of the Web 1.0 philosophy:
Web 1.0 sites are static. They contain information that might be useful, but there's no reason for a visitor to return to the site later. An example might be a personal Web page that gives information about the site's owner, but never changes. A Web 2.0 version might be a blog or MySpace account that owners can frequently update.

Web 1.0 sites aren't interactive. Visitors can only visit these sites; they can't impact or contribute to the sites. Most organizations have profile pages that visitors can look at but not impact or alter, whereas a wiki allows anyone to visit and make changes.

Web 1.0 applications are proprietary. Under the Web 1.0 philosophy, companies develop software applications that users can download, but they can't see how the application works or change it. A Web 2.0 application is an open source program, which means the source code for the program is freely available. Users can see how the application works and make modifications or even build new applications based on earlier programs. For example, Netscape Navigator was a proprietary Web browser of the Web 1.0 era. Firefox follows the Web 2.0 philosophy and provides developers with all the tools they need to create new Firefox applications. "

So, to recap web1.0 is static, non-interactive, and proprietary. That suggests that in contrast web2.0 is constantly changing, interactive, and shared. How true is that definition? For the next couple of days I'm going to go back and look at the 23 assignments, testing them against that precept. This might seem a bit redundant or after the fact for those among you who are quicker than I, but I know that others of us need it so have patience, please.

As for the two Misty's, some review might be prudent, as well. Is Misty2.0 flexible, interactive, and sharing? Is she an improvement over the limitations of Misty1.0? Well, she came to all of our family celebrations this weekend, and she tolerated stories, late nights, and dancing to the sweet strains of "Brick House" and "Play That Funky Music White Boy." Those qualities along give her an advantage in my book. Let's keep her!