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web 2.0: its inception, its impact, and its futurean epic white paperDr Naomi Norman, Director of Learning, Epic

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The first decade of the World Wide Web, sometimes called Web 1.0, was all about making large quantities of information widely and easily accessible.

Then came Web 2.0. But where did it come from, what does it mean, and what impact is it having anyway? This White Paper seeks to explain the events that led up to the paradigm shift from a one-way read-only and published internet environment (Web 1.0) to a many-way participative environment (Web 2.0). It explores the definition of the term Web 2.0, explains the principles on which Web 2.0 is built, and describes how it is having an impact on business and on workforce learning. Finally, there is a glance at what might be coming next, Web 3.0, and what this might mean for us all in the future.

web 2.0: its inception, its impact and its future

web 2.0 / web 2.0: its inception, its impact and its future

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Pre Web 2.0

Computers used to be primarily for data crunching by scientists and engineers, working in their computer labs in large businesses and universities. Then, there arrived the networked computer: the ability to connect one device, and so one person, to another and another and another. Add to that a physicist called Tim Berners-Lee, who, frustrated by the difficulty of accessing and exchanging data with his fellow scientists, invented a means to link text with text (a hypertext system) that enabled a shared space - an information web.

By this point, there had been the advent of the personal computer, and so a shift in the nature of computer usage. Computers changed from being predominantly computational devices to communications devices; from large, unwieldy scientific devices locked away in computing labs, to devices

that could sit on desks in the office and tables in the living room and connect to other computers worldwide. Suddenly the opportunities seemed endless. The Clinton/Gore administration of the early 1990s started to talk of the ‘information superhighway’. Meanwhile, the news reported a ‘media gold rush’1. Investors were keen to get a piece of the IT industry action and business values soared. But many of these new media firms were so busy being creative and excited that they neglected to consider their revenue streams, and so they made no profit. Spectacular stock market gains proved to be unsustainable and in the year 2000 the dot-com bubble burst. The result was that many new technology startups went out of business.

where did it come from?

web 2.0 / where did it come from?

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Web 2.0 is born

Against this backdrop of dashed expectations and a sense that perhaps the web was overhyped, was a conference session run by Dale Dougherty, the Vice-Principal of O’Reilly Media (a publishing house that specialises in computer technologies). It was agreed at this meeting that despite the dot-com crash, innovative websites and applications were still in development, and companies who had survived the bursting of the bubble had much to offer. However, it felt like a turning point and there was a call to action to mark a new way forward. Consequently, the term Web 2.0 was coined.

web 2.0 / where did it come from?

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Just as with e-learning, there is no simple shared definition of Web 2.0.

There is not even a convention for reading Web 2.0 aloud. Some say “web two point zero”, others say “web two o”, yet others say “web two”. None of these is necessarily right or wrong. However it’s pronounced, the term predominantly refers to features of the internet that grew out of a paradigm shift: one that moved away from a one-way read-only and published internet environment (now referred to as Web 1.0) to a many-way participative environment (Web 2.0). Put simply, this has been a move from electronic book or leaflet on screen, written and controlled by an author, to a collective mind map of information and contributions, accessible for all to build and shape.

An example that compares Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 is Britannica Online versus Wikipedia. Both are online encyclopaedias. However, Britannica Online – the online version of Encyclopaedia Britannica, is compiled with the help of a handful of ‘experts’. It is a one-way published website, and may be described as Web 1.0. On the other hand, Wikipedia – the online encyclopaedia that anyone can edit at any time and which is a collaborative effort - is reliant on many contributors. It is a two-way participative website and may be described as Web 2.0.

Moreover, a definite shift towards Web 2.0 is becoming increasingly evident in learning contexts. Consider, for example, the pre-conference offerings for events attended by Learning and Development professionals. Not long ago, before an event there was a one-way

web 2.0 / what does it mean?

what does it mean?

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published website, acting as an on-screen marketing leaflet. Now, following online registration for the recent Learning and Technology World Forum 2009, an invitation was issued to participants to visit a collaborative website. Once there, they could join online communities and engage in dialogue with colleagues before the conference had even opened.2

web 2.0 / what does it mean?

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Since the term was coined, O’Reilly Media have sought to further define Web 2.0 and in doing so have devised the seven essential Web 2.0 principles.3

An understanding of these principles enables an insight into the evolution of the web and its impact on businesses and their interactions with consumers. However, a word of warning: there are many services that describe themselves as Web 2.0, but that fit with only some, rather than all, of the principles outlined below. And O’Reilly himself admits, ‘The next time a company claims that it is "Web 2.0," test their features against the list... The more points they score, the more they are worthy of the name. Remember, though, that excellence in one area may be more telling than some small steps in all seven.’ 4

The web as platform

This is all about internet applications that provide the framework and the tools for users to create new services without having to build, understand or support the infrastructure behind them. An example is Second Life. This virtual world, devised by Linden Labs, provides a platform for third parties to quickly assemble their own realistic learning environments without any understanding of the complex programming required to build 3D simulations. IBM is one adopter. It is using Second Life to build learning environments that develop a cultural understanding of its business among new Chinese employees.5 Amazon also provides platforms for third parties, but largely for vendors seeking to build their own custom interfaces and make sales without any concern for the infrastructure

web 2.0 / the seven principles of web 2.0

the seven principles of web 2.0

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to support order processing, distribution, and customer services. In addition, Amazon offers platforms that directly support IT infrastructure, such as Simple Storage Service (S3), providing low-cost storage for files, downloads and backups, and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), providing on-demand virtual servers.6

Harnessing collective intelligence

This is all about providing a place where individuals’ contributions together form collective intelligent content. Consider, for example, eBay or Tripadvisor. Without the collective activity and contributions of its users, neither website has any content. That is because unlike so many Web 1.0 websites, content is not their business. Instead, their business is about enabling free-flowing and updateable collaboration between users: the knowledgeable masses joining together to share what they have perceived, learnt, or know at a single moment in time. And the more their

customers participate (for example commenting on the reliability of particular sellers on eBay, or on the service received from hotels and other accommodation on Tripadvisor), the less the quality of any single individual’s contributions matter, because the collective intelligence that is harnessed materialises as far superior to its individual parts.

Data is the next Intel inside

This is all about data being king! In order to harness collective intelligence, there must be a capacity to process immense amounts of data. Database management is indeed at the core of what Web 2.0 businesses do. But more than that, the value of these business’s databases grow in proportion to the number of users they have. For example, when you look up a book on Amazon you do not simply see the information about that book, but you can access reviews written by other readers, and you can also add and sell your own book. eBay,


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in the same way, does not simply provide data about an item for sale, but also actively encourages users to contribute data on the seller, the buyer and all their previous transactions. Indeed, at an interview at the Web 2.0 summit in October 2007, Google’s VP of Search Products and User Experience, Marissa Mayer, admitted that “having access to large amounts of data is in many instances more important than creating great algorithms”.7

End of the software release cycle

This is all about a shift in software as a product, delivered in a static and finite form and installed on standalone computers or networks, to software as a service, delivered over the internet and so easily updatable and maintained. Software delivered over the internet does not require a release cycle, as it can evolve over time. And this shift has inevitably led to changes in the process of software development and deployment. In particular, it is now usual to see

more transparency, with Beta versions of software published at early stages and remaining as Beta for longer periods of time. Customers provide feedback, raising issues and bugs, fulfilling a role that could almost be described as co-developer. The result is more frequent revisions to the software as the software developers respond to users’ reports, feedback and usage. In fact, Flickr.com report that they have been known to release a new version of their software up to every 30 minutes. 8

Lightweight programming models

This is all about a move away from traditional, highly structured formal programming to more simple and dynamic models, resulting in applications that have a high degree of interoperability and integration. Such applications can then be brought together with other applications to create new services, often referred to as ‘mash-ups’. One typical example is the integration of websites that show houses for sale, along with Google maps that show their location.


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Software above the level of a single device

This is all about applications having reach beyond a solitary device. For example, this paper is written using MS Word 2007, installed on a single device that is a laptop. The application has no reach beyond this laptop, and therefore it is not software above the level of a single device. Compare this with the range of Google Apps that includes a word processor called Google Docs. Google Docs does not have to be installed on a computer to be used, but instead it is accessed via the internet, providing users with the word processing tool and their documents from any internet-connected device, including mobile ‘phones. What’s more, Google Gears allows a copy of the application and all documents to be stored on multiple devices and accessed offline, with automatic updating occurring when there is an online connection.

Rich user experiences

This is about combining graphical, as opposed to textual, user interfaces (for example, interfaces that make use of icons, buttons, dialogue boxes, and so on) and multimedia content, to deliver applications over the web which are as rich as you may expect from any PC-based software. A key component to rich user experiences is AJAX, a collection of techniques and technologies that allow web content to look and feel very much like a traditional software application. A good example of the use of AJAX to create a rich and responsive web application is Flickr, which enables sophisticated manipulation of images over the internet. Other technologies that enable rich user experiences (or RIAs – Rich Internet Applications, as they are sometimes known) include Adobe Air and Microsoft Silverlight. Both seek to offer the feel of traditional installed software applications with online and offline access, while maintaining the benefits of being accessible over the web.


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Web 2.0 and business models

There is no doubt that Web 2.0 has led to new business models. One such model relates to the ‘web as platform’ principle, whereby businesses sell platforms that allow anyone, regardless of computer programming know-how, to build their own IT infrastructure, or online business. A simple example is Amazon or eBay, both of which provide platforms for their users to build online stores. In the same way, Twitter, (the micro-blogging platform) is resulting in a whole new type of business service.9 For instance, Stockwits has bought into the Twitter platform to enable users to send and receive opinions on the financial markets, thus tapping into the conversations of other traders and investors.

Another new business model relates to the ‘harnessing collective intelligence’ principle,

whereby rather than having in-house expertise, businesses exploit the talents of their users through facilitating user community interactions. For example, consider Threadless.com. This online designer t-shirt business has no in-house t-shirt designers, but instead asks users to submit their own designs. These designs are voted on by the community of users and the most popular are printed and sold through the website. Then the user/designer receives a royalty.

However, perhaps the best example of a business built on the premise of ‘harnessing collective intelligence’ is that of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a modern take on the 18th century chess-playing mechanical mannequin – a hoax ‘machine’ with a human operator hidden inside. The Amazon Mechanical Turk is a web-based application that coordinates subjective human tasks that computers

web 2.0 / web 2.0 and the enterprise

web 2.0 and the enterprise

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would be otherwise incapable of performing. For example, a requester may pay Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to choose the best photograph to represent its business on its home page; Amazon then pays a nominal fee to an army of human ‘providers’ registered on its site, to make their selection.

But it is not just relatively new businesses who are adopting Web 2.0 for enterprise. Existing business is looking to Web 2.0 to improve and update their services too. For instance, based on the ‘data is the next Intel inside’ principle, businesses are revisiting the wealth of information they hold, and seeking ways to better exploit it. Scientific publisher, Elsevier, is just one example. They have taken data that already exists in the multitude of research papers and by building a database of researchers and their expertise, enable scientists to seek out and collaborate with other scientists, across disciplines, and match to potential research grants. Elsevier has also launched ‘2collab’, a social bookmarking site10 that encourages scientific researchers to tag11 and rate

papers, providing a kind of self-regulating and automatic peer review. These tools and services enable scientists to engage with research in new ways, and represent a fundamental shift in Elsevier’s business model from publisher to data solution provider.

Web 2.0 and marketing

Web 2.0 is having an impact on how businesses market themselves too. Content accessed through traditional push channels, such as print and broadcast media, has fallen rapidly as consumers access what they want, when they want, online.

However, the one-way published online brochure, which is the company website, is no longer the only, nor necessarily the best, way of engaging with customers. Instead, businesses are using Web 2.0 to provide collaborative opportunities for their customers, stimulating discussion and building a community around brand, products and services. In doing so, they are collecting invaluable customer insights, and even gaining ideas for ways forward.


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For example, Dell’s IdeaStorm is a website where Dell customers are encouraged to propose new product ideas and service improvements, and to vote on the best suggestions from others. Over two hundred such ideas have been adopted by Dell thus far, among them the release of hardware that supports the Linux operating system, Ubuntu, alongside Microsoft’s Windows. This was a key move for Dell as a business, which previously was monopolised by the Microsoft operating systems.

And as consumers make more use of Web 2.0 in their day to day lives, businesses are reaching out to them, building a presence in the online places their customers already visit. For instance, a survey of US students found that 1% could be contacted via landline telephone, while 99% had a profile on the social networking site, Facebook12. This led professional services firm Ernst and Young to develop their own social networking strategy to market their graduate recruitment scheme. They built a careers group on Facebook, encouraging thousands of interested students

to sign up to job updates and to interact with the Ernst and Young workforce. The result has been a more personal, longer-lasting relationship with the pool of graduates from which they employ 3,500 each year, and greater confidence in the quality of employees they are attracting.

Web 2.0 has enabled businesses to reach out to niche markets too. Traditionally, the cost of marketing to small numbers of people has proved uneconomical. However, Web 2.0 has made long tail marketing possible, cost-effective and even more profitable.13 In fact, Amazon now achieves more profit from the long tail than it does from selling blockbusters. This is because there is no expectation that they will hold the stock for niche markets. This allows Amazon to either order the book at the time of purchase, ensuring a guaranteed sale, or to rely on small specialist suppliers using the Amazon platform for their online bookstores, to supply it.


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The internet has increasingly become embedded in our everyday lives. Year on year, the UK Office for National Statistics show more households with internet access.

The UK Government recently reported that 93 percent of adults under 70 years old with a degree or equivalent qualification has internet in their home14, while 85 percent of households with children now have access to broadband, compared with only eight percent of households five years ago15. The internet is increasingly the first place people reach for when they want to look something up, and the verb ‘to Google’ has become commonplace.

Many of those making use of the internet are engaging with Web 2.0 tools. The social networking site, Facebook, boasts more

than 14 million UK citizens as registered users16; while the business networking site, Linkedin, has more than 1.8 million UK users.17 More than 10 percent of all Twitter users are UK-based.18 And a recent article in Times Higher Education suggested that the numbers of UK academics entering the blogosphere19 is growing all the time.20 Meanwhile, more and more people are enlisting the services of Flickr to tag and share their photos; registering their interests with Stumbleupon to see the websites that like-minded others would recommend; and hooking up their media player to Last.fm to match to others’ similar playlists and receive suggestions of music they might like. Millions are making use of RSS feeds too to keep up to date with news and information on their favourite websites.21

These Web 2.0 tools are easy to use and have created a whole new kind of participatory culture, and one that is only set to grow.

web 2.0 / web 2.0 and the individual

web 2.0 and the individual

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Without question, the many-way participative environment supported by Web 2.0 has impacted on our interactions both at home and in business. This in turn has changed the way that we interact with knowledge and so the way that we learn.

The power to contribute, to comment and to offer addenda and amendments has led to bodies of knowledge that are more dynamic. Much of it is changing at a tremendous pace. Therefore, our ability to access knowledge and make first-rate decisions about where we access it is gaining as much importance as the knowledge that we own and how we know it.

In fact, some may claim that the connections we build in order to access knowledge and

learn are of more importance than our state of knowing at any particular moment in time. However, that surely depends on the context. For example, the learning a doctor has done and what he or she knows in a medical emergency is of far greater significance than their ability to access the correct knowledge in order to tackle the situation.

However, in many workplace situations, knowledge is not needed as a matter of urgency. In such circumstances, learning may be more relevant and successful when it is on demand, accessed at a time when it makes most sense and in response to an individual’s immediate needs. This is where e-learning and Web 2.0 may have the most to contribute, as economics simply does not allow traditional classroom-based courses to be customisable, personalised and also cost-effective.

web 2.0 / web 2.0, learning and the workplace

web 2.0, learning and the workplace

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Web 2.0 has in many ways made learning on demand possible. It has allowed us to seek whatever it is we want to know, at whatever time we want to know it, and to reach well beyond the walls of the building in which we work; to access the wisdom of experts and collaborate with peers in a community much wider than we would otherwise ever be able to join.

Moreover, Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, micro-blogs and social networking allow us to engage in regular dialogue with experts and peers, even when we do not have a specific learning need. And this helps to move our learning forward. These types of tools have undoubtedly increased and sped up the informal learning that we have always experienced in our everyday lives: the learning that happens in a conversation in passing with a colleague or in a chance interaction at the beginning of a meeting with a client is now magnified by the opportunities that Web 2.0 provide for us to connect with others.

That is not to say that there is no place for formal learning. Some foundation of knowledge is essential to making informed decisions about the kinds of learning required and the reputable sources for that learning. In such circumstances, a classroom-based course or e-learning modules may be deemed most appropriate. But their success can be further augmented through the support of Web 2.0.

Moreover, Web 2.0 can be an invaluable means to market formal learning and enhance motivation and success. For example, a managerial blog may be used to communicate with the workforce and invite comment. A side effect may be that employees’ comments in turn feed into future strategic business planning.

If business is to capitalise on Web 2.0 then it needs to combine such top-down and bottom-up approaches. After all, businesses have much to gain in terms of efficiency by encouraging Web 2.0. For example, wikis enable employees’ inputs


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to be easily assimilated into documents without any need for increased email traffic or wasted time gathering in meeting rooms22; expert blogs improve knowledge sharing and exploit the know-how and talent of employees; and project blogs not only aid the flow of information between team workers, but also allow those outside the project to learn from others' project management. And in championing social networking, not as a forum for chat, but rather as a place where colleagues network, (including with those who may have left the business but remain working in the same sector), businesses can gain from improved company cohesion and employee retention.23

The key is that the encouragement must come from the top-down. Professor Andrew McAfee of Harvard Business School, who coined the term Enterprise 2.0, stresses the criticality of senior management involvement in such activity to ensure a cohesive Web 2.0 strategy. This is essential to the development

of a Web 2.0 environment that does not result in ‘mutually inaccessible walled gardens’24, but instead capitalises on the contributions of all its workforce and gets the most from all their knowledge, skills and talents.


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Inevitably, in the fast-moving technological world in which we live, Web 2.0 will soon be in the distant past, built on, and perhaps even replaced by, a new paradigm shift. Already there is talk of Web 3.0, defined as the intelligent web, whereby the infinite and disparate information that resides on the internet is not just presented, but is assigned meaning and a context, and is connected.

The recently launched ‘Google Wave’ attempts to do just this. It brings together email, instant messaging, photos, video and live document sharing so they sit in a single place. This enables the creation of a ‘wave’ which is a collection of interactions, documents and rich media

unrestricted by the limitations of a platform or individual application.

Applications will increasingly become seamlessly integrated in this way. Consider, for example, the email confirmation you received when you booked a conference, the line in your bank statement that showed the conference had been paid for, your calendar where you blocked out the conference dates, your SlideShare account where you uploaded your conference presentation, and the video of you giving it which you uploaded to YouTube. At the moment all this information sits in separate places on the internet, unconnected and unable to be assembled and interpreted, other than by a human being. The semantic web will bring it together so that at a later point in time, the line in your bank statement which you cannot fathom connects with the email confirmation for your

where next after web 2.0?

web 2.0 / where next after web 2.0?

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conference; and the PowerPoint, along with the video clip of you giving the presentation, connects with the date it happened in your calendar.

In addition, less of the finding, sharing and linking of information will be done by humans and more will be done by computer. So machines will analyse, rather than simply follow commands. Reasoned and useful responses will be given to complex questions, such as ‘I’m seeking a company that can provide an e-learning 2.0 solution to address compliance, for a budget of no more than £20,000. Oh, and it must be finished by Christmas!’ The overall objective is an internet that is less a catalogue and more a wise adviser.

The impact on learning will be immense. Web 2.0 will continue to enable the interaction so essential to learning, while Web 3.0 will enable less time to be spent on researching and sifting, and more time to be given over to thinking and constructing conceptual understandings.

As for the future, beyond Web 3.0, who knows what will be at the ‘web’s edge’? Even Sir Tim Bernard’s Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web, acknowledges this is yet to be dreamt of. He says, “My goal for the web in 30 years is to be the platform which has led to the building of something very new and special, which we can't imagine now." 25

We’ll just have to wait and see!

If you have any comments on this White Paper you can contact the author, Dr Naomi Norman, at [email protected]

web 2.0 / where next after web 2.0?

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web 2.0 / notes and references

notes and references

Landler, M., Grover, R., Ziegler, B and Hawkins, C. (1993) Media Mania. Business Week, 12 July 1993 [Online] Available at: http://www.businessweek.com/archives/1993/b332743.arc.htm

Becta (2009) Learning and Technology World Forum 2009: Get Ideas [Online] Available at: http://latwf.getideas.org/

O’Reilly (2005) What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software [Online] Available at: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html?page=1

O’Reilly, T. (2005) What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software – Core Competencies of Web 2.0 Companies [Online] Available at: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html?page=5

Hall, T. And Nguyen, F. (2007) ‘IBM@Play on Second Life’. Training Media Review [Online] 2007. Available at: http://www.tmreview.com/Review.asp?ID=1581

Note: These kinds of services are known as cloud computing, the cloud being a metaphor for the internet and the computing referring to the IT-related capabilities that are offered as online services.

Blogspot: Google Operating System (2007) Google is About Large Amounts of Data [Online] Available at: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/12/google-is-all-about-large-amounts-of.html [Accessed on 4 November 2008].

O’Reilly, T. (2005) What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software – End of the Software Release Cycle [Online] Available at: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html?page=4 [Accessed on 4 November 2008].

Note: Micro-blogging is a means to offer brief commentary of about 100-200 characters on a regular basis. Users (called followers) subscribe to the commentary and receive it in a variety of ways, including as SMS text messages to their phone, as email, or as instant messaging.

Note: Social bookmarking allows users to create online lists of useful or favourite web pages. Lists may be categorised, searched and shared. Examples of social bookmarking services include Google Notebook and del.icio.us.

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Note: Tagging is the action of assigning a descriptive keyword or term to a piece of data, e.g. the tag ‘London’ may be assigned to a photograph, or the tag ‘e-learning’ may be assigned to a bookmarked web page. Tags then aid in categorising, browsing and searching the data.

Note: Social networking sites allow users to build an individual online profile (usually comprising personal details and interests) and then to connect to others (usually called contacts) who share the same interests. The site may be used to send messages and share data with contacts. Examples of social networking sites include Facebook and LinkedIn.

Long tail marketing gets it name from this statistical distribution. The diagram shows numbers of consumers plotted on the y-axis against number of products on the x-axis. The ‘long tail’ is the section where lots of products are attracting only a small number of consumers – these are the niche markets.

UK Office for National Statistics (2008) Internet Access [Online] Available at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=8 [Accessed on 15 November 2008].

Becta (2008) Government says technology in learning is no longer optional [Online] Available at: http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=37361 [Accessed on 17 November 2008].

Bowser, J. (2008) ‘Facebook stays on top in UK with 14.35m users’. Brandrepublic [Online] 20 May 2008. Available at: http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/810278/Facebook-stays-top-UK-1435m-users/ [Accessed on 17 November 2008].

Goldie, L. (2008) ‘LinkIn close to 1.8m UK users’. Newmediaage [Online] 27 November 2008. Available at: http://www.nma.co.uk/Articles/40592/LinkedIn+close+to+18m+UK+users.html [Accessed on 28 November 2008].

Beaumont. C. (2008) ‘Twitter membership soars’ Telegraph.co.uk [Online] 24 July 2008. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/3358013/Twitter-membership-soars.html [Accessed 28 November 2008].

Note: Blogoshere is a collective term for all blogs. A blog (the contraction of web log) is an online journal with regular commentary that appears in chronological order, the most recent appearing at the top of the web page. Some blogs are simply online diaries, kept and updated by individuals; others are corporate blogs and are used as a marketing tool to keep customers and suppliers updated on their business news.

Corbyn, Z. (2008) ‘By the blog: academics tread carefully’ Times Higher Education [Online] 9 October 2008. Available at: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=403827

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Note: RSS (most commonly said to be an acronym for ‘Really Simple Syndication’) allows users to subscribe to their favourite websites and then to receive automatic updates whenever new information appears there, rather than having to regularly visit and check each individual site.

Note: A wiki is a collection of web pages that enables collaborative writing. Users can choose to edit, add and remove content.

Thomson, I. (2008) ‘Social networking good for business: Demos report calls for management tolerance’ InformationWorldReview [Online] 31 October 2008. Available at: http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/news/2229540/social-networking-business .

McAfee, A. (2008) ‘The Impact of Information Technology (IT) on Businesses and their Leaders’ Harvard Business School [Online] 14 February 2007. Available at: http://blog.hbs.edu/faculty/amcafee/index.php/faculty_amcafee_v3/comments/fastforwarding_to_a_better_understanding_part_2/

BBC News (2005) ‘Berners-Lee on the read/write web’ [Online] 9 August 2005

Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4132752.stm

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web 2.0 / other epic e-learning white papers

other epic e-learning white papers

E-learning benefits• E-learning: Return on

investment• Organisational benefits

Subjects• Induction and e-learning• Compliance and e-learning• Softskills and e-learning• Healthcare and e-learning • E-learning for IT systems

Learning and design• Blended learning• Blended learning in practice• Use of media in e-learning• Learning design for e-learning• Usability in e-learning• Localisation and e-learning• Build, Buy or Both?• Learner Centred Design

Learning• Assessment and e-learning• The psychology of e-learning• Motivation in e-learning• Pedagogy and e-learning• Informal learning• Personalisation and e-learning

Innovation• Simulations and e-learning• Blogs• Web 2.0

Delivery• Change management & e-

learning• E-tutoring

Technology• Open Source and e-learning• Reusable learning objects• Testing for e-learning

Standards• Standards in e-learning• Accessibility and e-learning

To order white papers, please email:

[email protected] or telephone +44 (0) 1273 728686.

To be notified of new white papers, and get the freshest thinking in e-learning, sign up for the regular Epic e-newsletter at www.epic.co.uk.

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This document is the property of Epic Performance Improvement Ltd. 2009 and must not be copied in whole or part, without the consent of the Company

Epic

This document is the property of Epic Performance Improvement Ltd. and must not be copied in whole or part, without the consent of the Company.© 2009

Epic

This document is the property of Epic Performance Improvement Ltd. and must not be copied in whole or part, without the consent of the Company.© 2010

Epic

web 2.0 - wordpress.com · environment (web 2.0). it explores the definition of the term web 2.0,...

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