Whether we like it or not, Web 2.0 technologies are profoundly changing the way we work and interact. User-generated Web content—hosted applications, blogs, wikis, social networking sites, RSS feeds—is rapidly creeping into organizations, offering users new ways to collaborate and communicate.
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Whilst a number of methodological and philosophical difficulties surround its definition, ‘informal learning’ is now acknowledged to be a vital element of education for learners of all ages (Colley et al. 2003). Despite the ‘slippery’ nature of the concept (Girod 1990), there is an emerging consensus that the nature of informal learning is more specific than simply being any learning outside of formal education. At one level informal learning is “undertake[n] individually or collectively, on our own without externally imposed criteria or the presence of an institutionally authorised instructor” (Livingstone 2000, p.493). Thus, whereas formal learning is typically institutionally sponsored, classroom based and structured, informal learning “is not typically classroom based or highly structured, and control of learning rests primarily in the hands of the learner” (Marsick & Watkins 1990, p.12). Yet we should not overlook the fact that informal learning also includes a range of learning stimulated by general interests which is ‘caught not taught’ (Davies 1998).
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Everyone is currently talking about Web 2.0, it is the next big thing in the IT industry. But most people have only a vague idea of what Web 2.0 is about — and what it is not. They tend to think of Web 2.0 as a collection of websites and fancy web-based applications. What they don’t see is the shift of paradigm that Web 2.0 brings — and the emergence of new technologies under the surface.
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The bursting of the dot-com bubble in the fall of 2001 marked a turning point for the web. Many people concluded that the web was overhyped, when in fact bubbles and consequent shakeouts appear to be a common feature of all technological revolutions. Shakeouts typically mark the point at which an ascendant technology is ready to take its place at center stage. The pretenders are given the bum’s rush, the real success stories show their strength, and there begins to be an understanding of what separates one from the other.
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Crawling web applications is one of the key phases of automated web application scanning. The objective of crawling is to collect all possible resources from the server in order to automate vulnerability detection on each of these resources. A resource that is overlooked during this discovery phase can mean a failure to detect some vulnerabilities. The introduction of Ajax throws up new challenges [1] for the crawling engine. New ways of handling the crawling process are required as a result of these challenges. The objective of this paper is to use a practical approach to address this issue using rbNarcissus, Watir and Ruby.
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Participation
Every aspect of Web 2.0 is driven by participation. The transition to Web 2.0 was enabled by the emergence of platforms such as blogging, social networks, and free image and video uploading, that collectively allowed extremely easy content creation and sharing by anyone.
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“Web 2.0” has become a catch-all buzzword that people use to describe a wide range of online activities and applications, some of which the Pew Internet & American Life Project has been tracking for years. As researchers, we instinctively reach for our spreadsheets to see if there is evidence to inform the hype about any online trend. What follows is a short history of the phrase, along with some data to help frame the discussion.
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In 2004, we realized that the Web was on the cusp of a new era, one that would finally let loose the power of network effects, setting off a surge of innovation and opportunity. To help usher in this new era, O’Reilly Media and CMP launched a conference that showcased the innovators who were driving it. When O’Reilly’s Dale Dougherty came up with the term “Web 2.0”during a brainstorming session, we knew we had the name for the conference. What we didn’t know was that the industry would embrace the Web 2.0 meme and that it would come to represent the new Web.
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