Unleashing Web 2.0: From Concepts to Creativity (Paperback)

~ (Author), Stephan Hagemann (Author)
Key Phrases: active record, description logics, Semantic Web, Google Maps, Second Life (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The most exciting aspect of this current era of the Web, which has come to be known as Web 2.0, is that everything is read/write. Whether it's people communicating and sharing content with each other on social network sites like YouTube and Facebook, or computers talking to each using web services, or people personalizing their news using RSS and blogs, Web 2.0 is a two-way experience - it's no longer a one-way, broadcast model as it was in the Dot Com era of the Web. Dr. Gottfried Vossen and Stephen Hagemann have very clearly explained this transition to the new read/write era of the Web, and they paint a picture of how it might progress to the next stage via Semantic Web and other technologies. This book will help you understand the ongoing evolution of the Web, and push you to create applications that take advantage of the read/write Web."

Richard MacManus, Editor, Read/WriteWeb (http://www.readwriteweb.com)

Product Description

The emergence of Web 2.0 is provoking challenging questions for developers: What products and services can our company provide to customers and employees using Rich Internet Applications, mash-ups, Web feeds or Ajax? Which business models are appropriate and how do we implement them? What are best practices and how do we apply them?

If you need answers to these and related questions, you need this book-a comprehensive and reliable resource that guides you into the emerging and unstructured landscape that is Web 2.0.

Gottfried Vossen is a professor of Information Systems and Computer Science at the University of Muenster in Germany. He is the European Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier's Information Systems-An International Journal. Stephan Hagemann is a PhD. Student in Gottfried's research group focused on Web technologies.

* Presents a complete view of Web 2.0 including services and technologies
* Discusses potential new products and services and the technology and programming ability needed to realize them
* Offers 'how to' basics presenting development frameworks and best practices
* Compares and contrasts Web 2.0 with the Semantic Web

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann (August 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0123740347
• ISBN-13: 978-0123740342
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #115,199 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Executive's Guide to Web 2.0 Technologies, August 3, 2007

By	Mr. Panah Mosaferirad "joshua_pan" (Philadelphia, Pa United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is an excellent book on Web 2.0 technologies and how they can be used to provide value to users in a Web 2.0 world. The book is a light on technical (programming), but rich on concepts and the business side of Web 2.0. What makes this book useful is the fact that it reintroduces common concepts such as blogs in a way that an executive can understand and take advantage of. The first chapter discusses a brief history of the web. The second chapter goes into explaining what web technologies such as CSS and XML are and what a web service can do for a business. There are a few other very useful chapters in this book, but by no means you should stop your Web 2.0 quest with this book. This book's a great way to start your Web 2.0 journey and it even puts forth the notion of semantic web. But, once you figure out what area you want to concentrate on, I recommend getting a more comprehensive book on that specific topic.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise and To the Point, August 13, 2008

By	Todd Hawley (San Francisco CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When I first heard the term "Web 2.0," I dismissed it as hype left over from the dotcom days. What I've learned since is that Web 2.0 is a phenomenon that has forever changed the way we use the Internet. And while the 'Net is constantly changing, Web 2.0 is definitely NOT hype and it's time we all learn to use Web 2.0 to the best of our abilities. What I like about this book is that the authors describe various Web 2.0 technologies like XML web applications, Rich Internet Applications (like Google online documents), Application Programming Interfaces (API's), Web procedure calls (WPC), Ajax client and server-side applications, metadata and the Semantic web.

There's also items like blogs, wikis, and social networks. These are all explained in great detail in this book. There are also apps called "mash-ups." Before reading this book, I thought "mashups" were combinations of songs created by club DJs. Internet mashups aren't all that different combining different web programs to create something new and useful. RIA's have become quite popular. Think of Google online documents or spreadsheets.

The book starts off with a brief history of the "browser wars" between Netscape and Microsoft, then discusses developments in web technology (HTML, XML, CSS, etc), along with the emergence of client and server side applications enabled by using JavaScript and PHP, and then goes in more detail about RIA's, mashups and the phenomenon called "tagging." Tagging consists of tags that contain information about a site, photo or link that can be used by others for a wide range of uses.

There's also a chapter in the book devoted to the social implications of Web 2.0; items like business models and the social impact of online social networks like MySpace.

The authors did a great job in describing their topic. I appreciated their detailed look at Web 2.0. It makes an excellent "starter" book on the subject.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well organized overview of web 2.0, January 18, 2009

By	A. S. Johnson "seeking change" (Anchorage, AK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book starts with a history of the development of web technology, covering things like:
- Search engines
- Client/server development
- HTML and XML
- Targeted advertising
- User participation and social networking

They then cover the technology that has allowed the development of Rich Internet Applications. This includes:
- AJAX
- Web based email
- Mapping applications

They also look at some of the frameworks for developing applications as well as the future of Web 2.0 and how the idea of the semantic web overlaps.

This is a good book for anyone in management who is in charge of web development and wants to have an understanding of the interplay of web tools. It is also good for developers who are new or who just want to keep current.