2.4 Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0
Nowadays, it is expected that a newspaper will have its online version, and usually even the small ones do. However, before the dawn of the XXI century, the online content wasn’t very exciting. Back then, mostly shovelware was used to transfer content from the traditional newsrooms to the Web site: the type of tool which makes no additional changes to the online content (Kawamato, 2003).
Such a state of affairs was related to what Web 1.0 was. It is interesting to notice that the term 1.0 is a retronym, which means that it was only created once the 2.0 version was defined.
The main issue for online journalism is the publishing versus participation differentiation. While using shovelware was widely acceptable and implemented in the “old times” (Web 1.0 is said to refer to the period 1994-2004), what characterises Web 2.0 is participation. It is not enough anymore to simply publish your text online. In the new era newspapers need to recognise their readers as valuable participants in the whole process.
While Web 1.0 was more about simply accessing information, Web 2.0 is to a great degree also about creating information. Let’s take the example of Wikipedia – an online encyclopaedia fully created by the online community. It is still possible to remain passive and solely read the entries, but the Web 2.0 tools allow Wikipedia’s users to become active and to add text, edit others’ text, add pictures, links, etc. The users can feel free to become creators. This development has been picked up by newspapers and magazines online: for obvious reasons the readers are still not allowed to edit the articles of professional journalists but they can add their own comments, and very often they are asked to submit their own pictures or videos to illustrate the stories.
Joe Drumgoole, the CEO of PutPlace.com made an interesting comparison between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0:
- Web 1.0 was about reading, Web 2.0 is about writing
- Web 1.0 was about companies, Web 2.0 is about communities
- Web 1.0 was about client-server, Web 2.0 is about peer to peer
- Web 1.0 was about home pages, Web 2.0 is about blogs
- Web 1.0 was about owning, Web 2.0 is about sharing
The full list consists of 15 items and is available here (Drumgoole, 2006). To sum it up: while Web 1.0 was about publishing and reading, Web 2.0 is about participating and sharing.
In the next section I will discuss and illustrate the ways in which newspapers and magazines have adapted the Web 2.0 tools in their websites to enable fuller participation of the readers.
