Advanced Web Technologies

Although the general public may not be familiar with the buzzword "Web 2.0," technologies linked to this much-hyped phrase are becoming commonplace for consumers who use Wikipedia, Google Maps, or Yahoo Widgets. Coined in 2004 by Tim O'Reilly, Web 2.0 refers to a second generation of Internet-based capabilities – such as widgets, mashups, wikis, social networking sites, and folksonomies (user-generated categorization) – that emphasize richer user experiences and collaborations. These technologies are defined by user empowerment and choice, as opposed to the first wave of Internet technologies where users were passive consumers of Web technologies.
ANANTABD Research is collaborating with other groups within ANANTABD to understand how these technologies might be applied to business software. Initial efforts have focused on rich Internet applications (RIA) using capabilities such as widgets (interactive user controls), Ajax (technologies for more responsive Web interactions), and mashups (compound services that enhance the user experience, such as showing business locations on maps).