White Paper: Web 2.0 Demystified, what it is in plain English.

Web 2.0 is the popular term for advanced internet technology and applications and means a lot of different things to different people. The expression Web 2.0 was originally coined in 2004, following a conference dealing with next-generation Web concepts and issues. One of the most significant differences between Web 2.0 and the traditional World Wide Web is greater collaboration among internet users, content providers, and enterprises. Web 2.0 is all about blogs, social networks, and user generated content. It's also about technologies and frameworks such as Rich Internet Applications (RIA), XML, Web Services, and AJAX. A technocrat could easily write a thesis on any of these applications and services. That's not our style. Not only because we have much more interesting work to do, but also because we choose to simplify. To us, Web 2.0 means Community & Collaboration, Rich Internet Applications, and Integration.

Community & Collaboration - I call it Community and Collaboration, although there are many other ways to descibed it such as social networking and user generated content/sites. The explosion of bandwidth and user demand has generated a number of sites where users can post content. Examples include Flickr, FaceBook, MySpace, and YouTube. Users have information they want to share, or they have opinions they would like to express on your content. The point here is to put less thought into these sites and more thought into your own network or niche. Does your company or network have a community? Our internal Durkan Consulting Group (DCG) Portal is a perfect example of a Community. It is our employee intranet where content can be added, deleted, and modified. It is where we store and share information on projects and progress. We create and maintain comprehensive databases loaded with always-changing content. Durkan Consulting Group has unsurpassed experience in creating customized Community environments for our clients. When it comes down to it, Web 2.0 is about the people. It has to be inclusive. At Durkan Consulting Group, we listen, we learn, and we create exactly what our customers can use to maximize their productivity. We provide hosted intranets where you establish your own community of employees, partners, and clients, in any combination.

Rich Internet Applications - Web 2.0 also means robust web sites and web applications that have capabilities previously only found on desktop applications. For example there is AJAX, it’s not just for cleaning toilets anymore! AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a method of building interactive applications for the web that process user requests immediately. AJAX combines several programming tools that allow content on web pages to update immediately when a user performs an action. (Unlike an HTTP request, during which users must wait for a whole new page to load.) For example, a weather forecasting site could display local conditions on one side of the page, without delay, after a user types in a zip code.

Durkan Consulting Group makes use of AJAX with the Google Map API. This interface allows the user to change views and manipulate maps in real-time. AJAX applications do not require installation of a plug-in, but work directly with a web browser. Functionally, there is a listener in the background on the web browser. That listener gets data passed to it and makes a call to a server. The server gets an answer and presents data to you.

Simply put, web applications now have a robustness that previously wasn’t common. Durkan Consulting Group builds and delivers powerful web applications using AJAX that allow our customers to do things such as; requesting a product list and having the list pop up to select an item, mapping, and walking down a decision tree choosing different options.

Our extensive AJAX knowledge allows us to deliver robust web applications for our clients that feature type-ahead, integration with web services, and customization retrieving data from a backend without ever refreshing the user’s browser page.

Rich Internet Applications are not only about AJAX, but are about other technologies as well. Durkan Consulting Group can also deliver internet applications based on Adobe Flex. Web 2.0 brings desktop capabilities to the web.

Integration - Finally, we have Integration, which means taking data that you have complete control over and mashing it up to an interface that hooks into a database. An example of this integration is the real estate map Durkan Consulting created for G. Anderson Agency, a realtor on Long Beach Island. We receive an XML feed of all rental data and programmatically retrieve the Google coordinates via a web service. Users are able to easily see where a specific rental property is located on the island. This integration is based on open standards such as XML. These open standards and Durkan Consulting Group's technical expertise allows us to deliver advanced websites and web applications. We can easily handle XML feeds, integrate your data with your ERP system, and mash your data using the Google API or any other web service or external system .

At Durkan Consulting Group, we encourage our customers to be co-creators and contributors. We want our clients to feel a sense of ownership over their website or web application.