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Digital Present - Digital Futures:
Social Computing and Web 2.0 (23)

“We've got to get back to the future, Marty.”
Slot 6 Tutor: Dr Adam Prugel-Bennett (APB)

Tom Russell, Eyo Ndem, Chris Saunders and Joe Saunders

Social Computing is Changing the
World

'Superpoke' – a facebook application which adds
functionality to the traditional poke feature by
allowing users to smile, wink, smack and slap (as
well as throw virtual sheep) at their friends.

Is this supposed to be the future of computing?

World
We all know about
Youtube, Twitter,
Facebook...but can these
sites really change the
world? The 'It Gets Better'
initiative certainly made a
difference to people's lives
and was based almost
entirely around social
computing but that doesn't
necessarily make social
computing and web 2.0
the future, however useful
a tool these sites may be.

World
And there are plenty of other applications
being developed that really can make a
difference to our lives.

'Zimride' is powered by Google Maps
combined with a social network and a
“ride-matching algorithm”. It's a carpool
scheme which, according to the company,
has enabled 300,000 worldwide users to
carpool with people that they otherwise
would never have met.

An environmentally friendly, world
changing use of social computing, what
could be better?

World
The world's most powerful
country (sometimes) is run by a
man who owes his presidential
position – at least in part – to
social computing.

The Obama '08 iPhone app
featured an organised and
prioritised list of contacts in key
states during the election,
designed to allow campaigners
to make an impact quickly and
effectively on arrival.

Web 2.0 is Changing the World
And Web 2.0 is helping too!

CompuMentor is an organisation that aims to help
other non-profit organisations adopt computers into
their own specific practices. A website,
NetSquared.org, was launched by the company and
equipped with as much Web 2.0 technology as
possible: blogs, online communities, RSS feeds etc.

CompuMentor began almost 20 years ago, and now via
it's more recent auxiliary company TechSoup, claims to
have distributed cheap computer material (both hardware
and software) to more than 50,000 non-profit companies,
reportedly saving the sector $400 million (around £260
million)

“Information technology is moving away from what non-profits have the
least of – money – and toward what we have the most of – people and
community.”
NetSquared founder Daniel Ben-Horin

...Or are they?
These are clearly excellent uses of the online
technology now available to people, companies
and charities.

But thus far we have seen nothing to suggest that
social computing and web 2.0 are anything more
than useful tools.

For these tools to really be the future of the web
requires a degree of expandability. The
technologies behind them must be sound, robust
structures that can be utilised in myriad ways if
social web is truly to be called “the Future”.

Rich Internet Application RIA

This is a web application
which gives the user
features and functions
normally associated with
desktop applications.

This includes visually
engaging websites such
as:
http://www.philips.co.uk/

Components of RIA
The most common languages used for RIAs
include:
● Flash
● JavaFX
● Microsoft Silverlight

● RIAs are visually engaging, interactive and
appeal to our sense of beauty.

Components cont.
● An advantage of RIAs is that it splits the
processing across the internet by locating the
user interface on the client side, and by using
data manipulation on the application server
side.
● This improves the speed of the applications and
gives the user more control over the application.

WOA 101(0)
● Web Oriented Architecture is not very well
defined, but is central to the Web 2.0 mindset.
● Based on the Service Oriented Architecture,
which is a set of principles for designing and
developing software to perform services.
● Sometimes seen as an extension, sometimes
as a subset.

Definition of WOA
● “A succinct, direct and complete explanation of
WOA is lacking”.
● Every resource on the network has
a unique address known as a URI.
● It is the responsibility of the components to
understand the resources they manipulate.
● Resources are manipulated by HTTP verbs, like
GET, POST, BREW etc., using REST
architecture.

Time for a REST
● Representational State Transfer.
● The style of software architecture used for the
World Wide Web.
● Five constraints: Client-server, stateless,
cacheable, layered, and uniform interface.
● As long as an architecture conforms to these
constraints, it is RESTful.
● This style is extremely common.

Why WOA is central to Web 2.0
● WOA ensures that applications promote
reusability, general architectures, and neutrality.
● WOA greatly benefits identification and
manipulation of resources.
● WOA lets developers
re-use code.

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