Web 2.0 in Ghana’s Path to Knowledge Societies

Amos AnyimaduTechnology Assessment Project,University of Ghana,

accraboy@fastmail.fm

www.AfricaTalks.org

Web 1.0               Web 2.0

DoubleClick   -->  Google AdSense  Ofoto         -->          Flickr Akamai        --> BitTorrent mp3.com       --> Napster Britannica Online --> Wikipedia personal websites --> blogging evite            --> upcoming.org and EVDB domain name speculation --> search engine optimization page views            --> cost per click screen scraping     --> web services publishing          --> participation content management systems --> wikis directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy") stickiness --> syndication

A Ghanaian Technologist Reinforces Tim O’Reilly’s view of Web 2.0 versus Web 1.0

Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability

Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them

Trusting users as co-developers

Harnessing collective intelligence

Leveraging the long tail through customer self-service

Software above the level of a single device

Lightweight user interfaces, development models, AND business models

Tom O’Reilly’s Summary of Web 2.0

When will this hit e-commerce?(Score:3, Interesting)

by PacoHernandez (939349) on Monday April 03, @11:48AM (#15050600)

It's interesting that the majority of these "Web 2.0" companies are still making their money off of paid advertisements, which seems to be a very "old web" business model.

Are there any companies that are doing new and interesting things with commerce itself?

http://slashdot.org/articles/06/04/03/1121244.shtml

Web 2.0 = low-contrast pastel colors(Score:2, Insightful)

by Bloodwine (223097) on Monday April 03, @12:06PM (#15050818)

For all the talk of CSS and XHTML making content more accessible, I find it funny that color-blind people

re brushed under the rug with all the low-contrast designs most of these Web 2.0 sites are sporting.

http://slashdot.org/articles/06/04/03/1121244.shtml

Along the same line of Synergy and Proactive.. ..(Score:2, Funny)

by Arwing (951573) on Monday April 03, @12:25PM (#15051011)

For me, web is (hopefully) ever evolving, and it will just be

THE web, with no version number attached at the end.

http://slashdot.org/articles/06/04/03/1121244.shtml

So, what is Web 2.0?

• The question is the point.

• The point is not your answer.

• The point is that everyone seems to be asking this question.

• As essentially contested concepts go, Web 2.0 is not too hot to handle – over 1400 definitions of “the state” even 50 years ago.

1 Do we need a new notional contract between state, society and university in today's Africa? If we do, what are the new, big ideas?

2 What would a "Development University" in Africa broadly look like in the era of the “knowledge society”?

3 Are the steps that have so far been taken toward an African-led but also outward-looking system of global partnerships for redefining the mission of the African university proper and/or adequate?

AAU Secretariat’s Key Questions on Knowledge Societies in Africa