Newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter
December 2007/January 2008
| Newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter December 2007/January 2008 |
As I stood outside of the Elephant and Castle after STC's SF chapter monthly meeting, waiting for a cab, I chatted with a woman who had also attended Tim Bombosch's thought-provoking and collaborative Web 2.0 presentation. She said, "That was one of the best STC meetings I've been to in a long time." I agreed with her.
In the space of an hour, Tim covered Web 2.0 history, terms, and its impact to business, while moderating a flurry of questions and responses from an opinionated group of STC participants. Why so thought-provoking? Web 2.0 represents a power shift; traditional monopolies of power can't horde the information goods. The adage "information is power" is epitomized by Web 2.0, and the shift in power has changed for those who create and interact with information and with content.
This power shift has an impact to technology but more interestingly to the way that people live and work. What's so different? Collaboration is the true personal and business differentiator. Knowledge can be commoditized, but the way we work and live together can't. Thought-provoking, to say the least.
Web 2.0 was coined by a guy named Tim O'Reilly. The term became popular following the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004.1 Most of us associate the denotation of a version with a software release or document update. Web 2.0 is an upgrade from Web 1.0 -- a conceptual rather than technology upgrade. The new version ushered a shift in how we think about and interact with the Web. As applications and tools evolved on the Web, so did behavior. Users started to generate content, and all kinds of it: news, politics, music, and technologies. And then users started interacting with the content, creating a highly collaborative milieu.
Users who generate content have a strong identification with communities where social networking takes place. Social networking tools include:
One STC participant asked, "What is the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0?"
Tim responded, "Good question -- let me think about that." Finally, toward the end of the presentation, we got an answer. "It's about the degree of ability to collaborate with others. The barriers to access information, tools, and applications are lower and the cost to access information is cheaper on the Web. Collaborating is easier in Web 2.0."
LISTSERV was launched in the days of Web 1.0 and allowed authors to manage and control an electronic mailing list. Authors selected a topic and started sending content to a group (or community) of email recipients. LISTSERVs lended themselves to collaboration but still required the management of their emails.
A Wiki turns up the collaborative heat. Wikis allow users to easily create, edit and link web pages. Also, Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites where knowledge can be built. Web 1.0 had collaborative properties, but applications like the Wiki substantially broaden the collaborative context.
As technical communicators, we need to embrace technology and business trends. Web 2.0 has changed some fundamental business rules. Collaborative behavior and interaction has led to open source software as the de facto technology. Proprietary technology is becoming a thing of the past. Benefits to companies include systems that are cheaper and highly vetted and stable.
Collaborative Tool Builders -- Companies and Tools to watch out for:
To stay competitive in today's marketplace, it's about going outside the firewall and about letting go of information. Tim referenced a book entitled Wikinomics, which illustrates how collaboration changes everything and how it gives companies a competitive edge. Tim also mentioned a couple of companies who have benefited from collaboration:
Airbus, Boeing's main aircraft producing rival, is having difficulties because they have resisted the collaborative model.
Technical communicators have the skills to harness Web 2.0's information challenges. We must collaborate and continue the kind of open and lively dialogue engendered by Tim Bombosch's presentation.
1Wikipedia. The free encyclopedia, Wiki [dictionary on-line] (accessed 14:23, 18 October 2007) available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2#Defining_Web_2.0; Internet.