THE PARTICIPATORY WEB

Abstract

This paper makes three contributions: first, we suggest a clear, concise definition of Web 2.0, something that has eluded other authors, including the Tim O'Reilly the originator of the concept. Second, prior work has focused largely on the implications of Web 2.0 for producers of content, usually corporations or government agencies. This paper is one of the few analyses of Web 2.0 from the point of view of users. Third, we characterize the creative activity of Web 2.0 users. In addition to their active content production, they are unusually active users of the Internet for entertainment. In multivariate models predicting Web 2.0, the most consistently important variables are technical ability, comfort revealing personal data and, particularly, Web 2.0 confidence. These variables suggest that despite the apparent simplicity of FaceBook or of typing a book review on Amazon, ability remains very important in the eyes of users. For many, there appears to be something daunting about contributing to Web 2.0 activity and many potential users remain, rightly or wrongly, uncertain of their ability to make a contribution. We conclude that the study of Web 2.0 can tell us much about how the Internet is unique, and that it warrants a significant scholarly attention.

Keywords:

• Web 2.0
• media studies
• ICTs
• digital divide

Notes

The historical argument in this paragraph is developed in many places, see Benkler (2006) for an example.

There are studies of individual platforms like blogs or Facebook. These studies do not see the larger Web 2.0 picture of which their platform is one part. We return to this issue in the discussion, below. More to the point, many of these studies are not interested in the platform itself, but in some other issue – e.g. networks on Facebook – so the platform is the research site rather than the object of the research.

This refers to the British educational system. An approximate American equivalent would be between people who did not graduate from high school versus people with a high school diploma or higher.

We also ran all models using dummy variables for the categories of martial status and lifestage. Models using this alternative specification showed no substantive differences.