SixThings

All that fuzz over the term ‘Web 2.0’ has reduced it to a mere buzzterm, a misnomer without clear intention. Heck, even ‘buzzterm’ and ‘buzzword’ got caught in the crossfire as innocent, excessively worn-out casualties. Hopefully, the following terms that are associated with it do not suffer the same fate.

Semantic — An adjective that web designers and developers keep in mind when creating web applications and experiences that are SEO-friendly, easily maintainable, and standards-compliant. Commonly found inside the semantic bowl of alphabet soup are xHTML, CSS, XML, and RDF.

Folksonomy — A means of classifying and categorizing data on the web through collaborative efforts from the online community. This is more commonly known as (though not strictly synonymous to) ‘tagging’.

Asynchronous — The method of sending data to and from the web server that eliminates the need to re-transmit data for the whole page, and allows for “refreshless browsing”. This is the concept around which AJAX and its derivatives revolve.

Mashup — The compounding (“mashing”) of two or more pieces of complementing web functionalities to create a powerful web application. This is usually achieved through the use of APIs.

Some Rights Reserved — A concept initiated by Creative Commons that builds upon traditional copyright practices and relaxes restrictions to promote creative freedom. CC licenses aim at maintaining the balance between an end-user’s free use and an author’s Intellectual Property Rights.

Syndication — Making information on a website available (preferrably in digest form) for a wide range of uses, prime examples of which are RSS and Atom feeds. Syndication is a great way of making news updates, blog entries and podcasts immediately available to a Web audience.