Web 2.0 seems to be a way to try to differentiate between the first series of Internet tools and environments and the more recent ones. It uses the software update numbering method to try to show an improved and enhanced internet (“Web 2.0,” 2015).

Web 1.0  describes the first generation of web-based environments. These environments were mostly static and provided ways for people to find out information (Todd & Gordon, 2009). They were also, for the most part, produced by experts and professionals. Website developers and information architects were the people designing the websites for clients who provided the content.

Web 2.0 was first spoken of in 2004 as a way of describing a new generation of web-based services which emphasized sharing and collaboration.   In particular sites would share user developed content, collect it, and distribute it to others  (Darwish & Lakhtaria, 2011, p. 205). While the term Web 2.0 was coined to show the participatory nature of the next generation of Internet tools and environments the founder of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee, rejects the whole idea of Web 2.0 saying that Web 1.0 was all about connecting people, “that was what the Web was supposed to be all along,” (2006). With connection and participation being the original intention of the Internet it seems that Web 2.0 is a term that is used to describe a broader and deeper used of the Internet to share information, opinions and ideas globally.

Regardless of whether the term Web 2.0 is valid or not the participatory nature of the Internet as it exists right now is undeniable.  Web 2.0 is era of the amateur (Koltay, 2010, p. 2). So with web 2.0 anyone can create websites, blog posts, publish opinions and observations to the Internet and their work is available to the public at large.

This era of the amateur poses a huge challenge to Teacher Librarians when teaching information literacy skills to students. Not only do students need to discern the source and validity of the information they can access through the Web 2.0 environment they need to develop a wider range of literacies than the traditional ones of reading and writing. In fact other literacies considered essential for this century include; visual, critical, media, tool and digital (Churchill, 2009). As well as being consumers of information available on the Web students themselves are producers of information and that in itself carries new sets of skills and responsibilities.

References

Berners-Lee, T. (2006, July 28). Where we’ve come, and the challenges and opportunities ahead (Interview by S. Laningham) [Transcript]. Retrieved November 28, 2015, from https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/podcast/dwi/cm-int082206.txt

Churchill, D. (2009, June 12). New literacy in the Web 2.0 world [Powerpoint]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/zvezdan/new-literacy-in-the-web-20-world

Darwish, A., & Lakhtaria, K. I. (2011). The impact of the new web 2.0 technologies in communication, development, and revolutions of societies. Journal of Advances in Information Technology, 2(4). Retrieved from ProQuest database.

Koltay, T. (2010). Library 2.0, information and digital literacies in the light of the contradictory nature of Web 2.0. Webology, 7(2), 1-12. Retrieved from ProQuest database.

Todd, R., Dr, & Gordon, C., Dr. (2009, June). Powering Up Minds and Powering Up Machines: Guided Inquiry, Reading, and Web 2.0 [Microsoft Powerpoint]. Retrieved from http://slideplayer.com/slide/4810867/

Web 2.0. (2015). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://school.eb.co.uk/levels/advanced/article/438358