Exam Questions :]

Exam Paper

Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. The term became popular following the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004.
While interested parties continue to debate the definition of a Web 2.0 application, a Web 2.0 website may exhibit some basic common characteristics. These might include:
"Network as platform" — delivering (and allowing users to use) applications entirely through a browser. Users owning the data on a site and exercising control over that data. An architecture of participation that encourages users to add value to the application as they use it. This stands in sharp contrast to hierarchical access-control in applications, in which systems categorize users into roles with varying degrees of functionality. A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface based on Ajax. Flex or similar frameworks. Some social-networking aspects.
O'Reilly provided examples of companies or products that embody these principles in his description of his four levels in the hierarchy of Web 2.0-ness:
Level 3 applications, the most "Web 2.0"-oriented, which could only exist on the Internet, deriving their power from the human connections and network effects that Web 2.0 makes possible, and growing in effectiveness the more people use them. O'Reilly gave as examples eBay, craigslist, Wikipedia, del.icio.us, Skype, dodgeball and Adsense.
Level 2 applications, which can operate offline but which gain advantages from going online. O'Reilly cited Flickr, which benefits from its shared photo-database and from its community-generated tag database.
Level 1 applications, also available offline but which gain features online. O'Reilly pointed to Writely (now part of Google Docs & Spreadsheets) and iTunes (because of its music-store portion).
Level 0 applications, which would work as well offline. O'Reilly gave the examples of MapQuest, Yahoo! Local and Google Maps. Mapping-applications using contributions from users to advantage can rank as "level 2". Non-web applications like email, instant-messaging clients and the telephone.


Exam questions

1a. What is Web 2.0?

b. How many levels of hierarchy are there in Web 2.0-ness?

c. Explain what is meant in the passage by :

i) ‘social networking’
ii) ‘hierarchical’
iii) 'perceived second generation'

2. a) State 3 characteristics of Web 2.0

b) Using you wider knowledge of new media technologies. Discuss what people may use Web 2.0 for?


Answer either question 3 or 4


Either

3) To what extent does Web 2.0 to benefit people of different ages?

or

4) To what extent does Web 2.0 effect media industries?