Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology

I liked doing the Intellectual Property series in the earlier incarnation of this blog. Writing a series I think gives me the space and time to think about particular technology issues in way more detail than I can in one post, and Web 2.0 is a big enough topic that it really lends itself to a series. So this is the beginning of a series of posts on Web 2.0. What I’ll do in these posts is first explain a bit about one particular aspect of Web 2.0, and then talk a little bit about it’s implications in the nptech field, and then my own view of it from the neo-luddite perspective.

Before I plunge in to talk about the individual parts of Web 2.0 that I will highlight, I’ll give you a short definition of what Web 2.0 is. The Wikipedia entry on Web 2.0 is quite good, so if you want more detail, certainly go there. But I’ll give you my quick definition:

Web 2.0 is a series of innovations in web technology that have come together in unexpected ways, to change the experiences that people have in using the internet, and has made it much more deeply a many-to-many experience, rather than the more one-to-many experience it had been before. The technologies generally connected to Web 2.0 include, depending on one’s definitions, many new kinds of communities such as MySpace and Flickr, blogging, podcasting and vlogging, tagging and folksonomies, RSS feeds, content rich web applications using technologies like Flash and Java, open standards and APIs that allow seamless connections between different web applications, new kinds of user interfaces using AJAX, and different design aesthetics. Hallmarks of Web 2.0 sites include a democratic approach to content, organization by tagging, and new, much more flexible and intuitive interfaces.

At this point, I use Web 2.0 applications every day. I blog, I use Flickr, I search blogs using Technorati, I use del.icio.us and tag my links, I contribute content to a number of sites, including H20 Playlist. I think Web 2.0, like it’s version number suggests, is a much richer, more rewarding experience than Web 1.0 was.

And, I think that there is a lot that the nptech field can get from using Web 2.0 tools - since in many ways, the most important aspects of Web 2.0 are about empowerment of individuals, and connecting people to each other by the content that they create, or are interested in. But there is a lot of hype regarding Web 2.0, and I want to talk about that hype, and talk about the possible pitfalls of jumping on the Web 2.0 bandwagon. Jumping on any technology bandwagon has its pitfalls, and this one is no different.

So, what’s on tap?

First up, after this post, will be an investigation tagging and folksonomies. Then, I’ll talk about RSS and XML. These are, I think, the two most important aspects of Web 2.0 in terms of their positive impact. I’ll then talk about blogging, podcasting and vlogging, which I think are probably the most hyped, and potentially least useful for nonprofits to jump into without a lot of thought. After that, I’ll go under the hood, and talk about things like open APIs and AJAX.