Web 2.0 Analogy

The thesis I completed for my Master's degree was on a Web 2.0 technology, and I frequently get asked by technical people and non-techies alike exactly what Web 2.0 is. Most folks know that Web 2.0 makes the old web look prettier and "slicker" and has something to do with community, but many are not sure of how to distinguish between the two.

Problem is that Web 2.0 isn't exactly anything. It's fuzzily many things. So here is my current analogy:
Web pre-2.0 : dinner at a friend's house :: Web 2.0 : a potluck dinner

I like this analogy because it addresses the inherent fuzziness in trying to define something that is an evolution of its previous existence. First, I'll explain the dinners, then try to relate them back to the different Web x.x's.

When you go to a friend's house for dinner, your friend makes dinner for you...most of the time. Maybe you brought over some brownies for dessert, and maybe he ordered in an appetizer from the local Indian place, but basically, he is presenting dinner.

When you go to a potluck dinner, everybody brings a dish (except those sneaky little lurkers who just show up and help themselves while contributing nothing). You probably would not have eaten 0l' Peggy's meatloaf had you just run into her on the street, but there is an inherent sense of trust at this location, so you help yourself to a large slice. You like Jerry's mini-quiches so ask him for the recipe, which he readily gives you (unlike Lenny who encouraged you to eat all of his rice pilaf you like but would not tell you how it was concocted). You talk to Ann about her potato salad and end up making plans to play tennis in a week.

The Web pre-2.0 is very much like a friend's for dinner. You are going to a specific place for a specific purpose. You used to go to your bank web site to check your account, just as you go to your friends to eat your dinner. Maybe as the web evolved, you began to pay bills there. This made it a two-way street: instead of just getting information, you were giving some back. This is kind of like you bringing a dessert to contribute to a dinner.

On to our potluck. Imagine a typical potluck dinner, maybe at a community center. You look around the room and see all kinds of different people. You wonder which food they bought. You see some people that look out of place or that you may not trust, but most people in the room have earned some kind of trust from you by sharing the communal purpose of a potluck. Some folks are there to see others, some are there to promote services (like the local injury lawyer), some are there to watch you.

Web 2.0 is defined by a communal atmosphere: instead of the company or host bringing the goodies, the community brings it. It is also defined by an atmosphere of trust; not absolute trust, but more trust than was perhaps exhibited before. For example, AJAX is a large part of the slickness of Web 2.0 interfaces. However, AJAX is little more than JavaScript made beautiful with stylesheets. Many people (myself included) used to have their browsers set to not allow JavaScript, as it could be used for unsavory purposes. However, as the Web community grows more trusting, more and more users are allowing JavaScript, trusting that those that wrote it will not be invading their desktops. (Yes, I am ignoring spyware concerns for today...one problem at a time, folks).

Programming Language from MIT

MIT has been testing a new programming language designed at enticing the younger crowd into coding. My programming experience started when I was in elementary school with a book on BASIC my dad gave me in which I would "code" designs that would eventually print out something resembling an American flag, a house, or a dog.

In Nancy Leveson's class on programming language, we often discussed how there was very few differences among the languages, whether they be procedural, object-oriented, or a loosely-classified "other." However, in this case, it's not so much the language as the perception of it.

There are still way too few female programmers. I remember my first week of freshman year at Dartmouth, walking into a large theatre-style-seating lecture hall to take a placement exam for computer science. Most of the seats in the hall were filled. I was the only female.

Since then, I've often considered why girls don't go into programming. I think there are a variety of reasons for it. Perhaps two of the largest are the nerdy stigma that goes with it and that lack of a social quality. Face it; despite how many meetings or collaborations we might have, developers still sit in front of a computer most of the day (except for those doing the XP-team-programming thing).

I loved that this article pointed to the collaborative element of this language, that students could laugh and share a joke. The picture at the top of the article showed two girls laughing while sitting in front of a machine. So, while the BASIC I learned on was simple like Scratch, it did not have the collaborative, "fun" element this new language seems to have. While I do not think that this language will be the panacea for the gender disparity in programming-type jobs, I do think that people on the Scratch project are thinking in the right direction.

It's raining!!!!

It hasn't rained here in a month (since April 13th or so). Yay!

Weather in Sarasota

The air in Sarasota today is so smoky it made my eyes water. It's been smoky since last night; it's very eerie out. The sun was red as I drove to the gym today.

It's an understatement to say that we are all ready for a little rain down here. There's a chance of thunderstorms toward the weekend, but not much before then. Who ever thought I'd be *hoping* for rain???

Love from Florida

Just wanted to say a quick hello to everybody and let y'all know I am still doing well here in Florida. It's just like Boston, only sunnier, less rain, and instead of an influx of college students from September through May we get snowbirds from December through May. Yup, those are the major differences in a nutshell.

Last night I saw "Akeelah and the Bee." If anyone of you remember this blog, you will recall that I love spelling bees. I began to miss blogging while watching the movie, especially when I actually recognized spellers from past competitions in the movie. Typical Ilana moment I thought my blog followers might appreciate.

I am going to MIT in June for my official graduation and getting very excited for it. I'll try to slip a few posts in here and there, as I do miss blogging and have been doing some cool stuff with AJAX that a few of my geekier readers may enjoy learning about =)

10th Man Plans

If you Google "10th man red sox," this blog is link 5 or 6. For all my fellow 10th-man-planners who find this blog this way, I apologize. I, too, am trying to find out when to expect my 10th man tickets!

And, oh yeah, I still owe y'all an "End of MIT Era" blog post. It's coming, I swear!

Update

I apologize for my lack of writing (and for the fluff-filled entries when I have been writing as of late). =)

I originally started this blog to write about my experiences in the SDM program at MIT. I finished my last class this summer, and submitted my thesis on November 22. School has therefore been effectively over for me for some time now.

On the same day I submitted my thesis, Dan proposed to me. I accepted, and we are now engaged to be married (no date set). I will be moving to Sarasota, Florida next week.

SOoooo...things have been busy! Once I am in Sarasota, I will get to a wrap-up post.

Happy Holidays and New Year, everybody! =)

Very moving story

This is an incredibly moving story, (even if the kid had to settle for Harvard rather than playing for the Big Green ;)). But seriously, it will make you count your blessings.

Murphy's Lesser-Known Dictums

Thanks to Lissette for this email:

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.

Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

The things that come to those who wait will be the things left by those who got there first.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.

A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

When you go into court, you are putting yourself in the hands of 12 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.

On Deion

Right now, I hate Deion Branch with a passion unbridled. Seriously! =D

I picked him up for my fantasy football team back when he was still a Patriot. I decided to stick with him, playing him the previous few weeks. When he scored me few points, I ditched him.

My opponent, Vicious and Delicious, has won like 3 of the last 6 fantasy football seasons (bastid). He picked Deion up. I played V&D this week. Look at the difference in our scores thus far:



And, yes, I'm bitter. =D Fortunately, I get to go to the beach now, so my bitterness will be fleeting.

"Pay it Forward" - Not a Happy Movie

Okay, if you haven't seen this movie yet and want to, do not read this entry. Of course, I would highly recommend NOT seeing it.

Last night I was futzing about, baking cookies (yes, you read right), cleaning, talking on the phone, and avoiding my thesis. For the more mundane tasks, I wanted background noise, so I noticed that TiVo had picked up "Pay it Forward" as one of its suggestions.

I see very few movies in the theatre, so usually know a lot about a movie before I watch it at home (as it is usually a few years old). For some reason, I had only heard good things about this movie. It made a nice little backdrop to my tasks. Some parts of it were cheesy, but whatcha gonna do with a feelgood flick??

THEN THE KID DIES. What the hell? I was so mad. There was no reason for him to die saving his friend from getting his butt kicked. Yes, I saw the obvious martyrdom/new religion themes, but seriously....so sad! Afterwards, I had to watch "Dumbo" to perk myself back up. Nothing like a big-eared elephant in an antiquated Disney film with questionably-valued birds to make a girl smile....

Back from NY

Just got back from New York after spending a day with Eve, Jeff, and Hannah. The drive was gorgeous; the leaves are changing but not yet falling. Eve and I spent the day in the city with Hannah, then came home for a home-cooked meal by Jeff for us and his parents. SO much fun.

Okay, now I'm going to working on my thesis, I swear ;)

College Football

I love college football. There are so many games and so many good stories. Also, it's not working on my thesis. ;)

Party at Bob's, Football game at UNH, No more Baseball....

This weekend started off with a party at Bob's in which much pong was played. It was great to see everyone (and to play pong, of course). Fernando and I were kicking butt for a while. =) The one hour I had planned on staying quickly turned into many more. Hence the thesis writing now =)

Today, I went to the UNH game with my parents. Considering the last football games I have gone to have been Florida State-Clemson (yeah, I need to blog about this...thanks again Dan), Bucs-Pats, and Miami-Florida State, I wasn't expecting much. However, the stadium was small but packed. We saw a dude break Jerry Rice's touchdown catch record. 'Twas exciting.

I was pretty surprised to see that the UNH fans didn't know when to be loud or quiet. UNH had a third and goal and the fans were screaming and banging on the stands. Dude! Not right! Anyhow, UNH (#1 in 1AA) beat Richmond (#4 in 1AA). It was a good game and a great day...and now I'm procrastinating doing the thesis writing I had planned to do last night, back when I figured I'd stay at Bob's for just an hour... =D

Also, it being the end of the baseball season (for us Sox fans, and hopefully the Yankees ones too after today's game), it is time for me to reread (and hence post) one of my all-time favorite pieces of prose:
Giamatti's Green Fields of the Mind. It's gorgeous, especially when read outloud.

Bye, Fenway, for another year....


Okay, back to the thesis this time, I swear!

(Awww...but Dan and I look so happy and summery! I can't possibly do work now...hmmm...what else to do...)

Mom's Art Show, Meeting Johnny Pesky

A piece of my mom's art was shown at Fenway a couple nights ago. I am so proud of her! It's a gorgeous plate. She was given a color palette with which to produce something, and I have included a picture below.

My mom, dad, and I were lucky enough to attend, thanks to my mom's friend and classmate, Shelly. Part of the festivities included meeting Johnny Pesky, of Pesky Pole (the right field foul pole at Fenway) fame.

What a great guy! He signed autographs and flirted with all of the women. He really could not have been more pleasant, and seemed like a genuinely happy person. I told him that I had a great picture of him on a certain Duck Tour in 2004 (the Sox Victory Parade), and he said, "I was pretty happy that day." It was awesome. Pictures are around.

Lani and Pesky
Originally uploaded by ilanad.

Moms piece 2
Originally uploaded by ilanad.

More thesis procrastination...

So I finally checked on my fantasy teams. Not looking so good, boys:

1. spike sharpeners (Atlanta friends baseball) are out, having lost to Nole Control! in the consolation round.
2. Dirt Dogs Plus One (Boston friends baseball) have advanced into the game for the bronze model (yes, also consolation round)
3. Studmuffins (Atlanta friends football) won their second game on Peyton Manning's 31-point performance.

Okay, back to the thesis. =)

College Football

Just got back from a weekend including watching the Clemson-Florida State game. It was amazing. Everybody should see a big-time college football game. There is nothing like the energy of the crowd, either before or after the elaborate tailgating.

I'll write more soon, when I'm not writing my thesis. (what a great excuse that is =D)

Traveling by Air?

Here is a good list of what you can and cannot bring on airplanes.

Sorry, kids...still no meat cleavers allowed on planes. You can bring pointy nail files and blunt scissors, but your defrizzer? Fuggedaboudit. Your hair will be HUGE.

Thesis

I have started work on my thesis. It's not that I'm not writing on this blog because I'm always writing the thesis, it's because I feel guilty writing on this blog instead of doing the thesis. =) I therefore have effectively avoided doing both...yay!

I know you're all thinking, geez! I wish Ilana would write more. I wonder what I can do to help...

Well, folks; here it is: you can go fill out a survey for me. Nine multiple-choice questions, that's it! Please?

Click here to take survey

Thanks, all!

Sigh...

Seems like just yesterday we were debating if Manny would be traded or not. Now it looks like the season is over. Sigh...