Web 2.0 still creates a buzz as noone has been able to come up with a standard definition about it. O'Reilly has delved into the web 2.0 characteristics, however, a uniform one-line definition does not exist.
That is frustrating given the fact the core principles of web 2.0 functionality have been systematically or not so systematically summed up by various authors.
According to Prashant Sharma, web 2.0 entails user-centered design, crowd-sourcing, web as a platform, collaboration, power decentralization, dynamic content, SaaS."A web design which is created in a way that it fulfills every possible need of the end user and empowers the user to perform certain customizations within the design." Crowd -sourcing is important as every user is a contributor. Furthermore, that brings to the front the notion of the long tail distribution as millions of small contributors create unique content which adds up to a huge volume.
Web 2.0 as a collaborative space is an overarching principle. The constant interaction users create through editing content (in blogging, wikis, etc) tremendously improves the quality of content and creates an idea of dynamism.
Democratization of content is another revolutionary principle of web 2.0. There is no administrator to 'regulate' your web 2.0 experience. You define the boundaries of your content!....
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Meeting with Jason Freedman, the Founder of FlightCaster and OpenVote in San Francisco, the Home of Start-ups in the Heart of the Bay Area
During the American Math Society conference in San Francisco in January this year, I pursued not only my love for mathematics but also my interest in learning about start-ups and connecting with entrepreneurs.
Over lunch with Jason Freedman, my TA from the Tuck Bridge Business Program and one of the co-founders of FlightCaster and OpenVote, I got a chance to discuss web 2.0. The definition of web 2.0 is given by Tim O'Reilly in “Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software”. O’ Reilly claims that the burst of the dot-com bubble gave the birth of a new generation of companies – web 2.0 enterprises. Does it mean that the innovative companies which survived the dot-com bubble are the so-called web 2.0? Jason argued that those are companies which are not simply innovative but essentially provide a service or a product which exists only in the cyberspace; they do not replicate an existing business model which is possible outside of the cyberspace and which can be sustained via other media and distribution channels without the use of the Internet space.
Another feature of web 2.0 is the amazing opportunity to create interactions for the users of the web 2.0 products and services. Web 2.0 involves a great degree of participation on multiple levels (twitter, for example, makes possible one-to-many as opposed to one-to-one communication), dynamic interaction (blogging in comparison to writing a book enables readers to comment instantaneously as opposed to writing reviews in a next edition of the book), and tailored client specific solutions (I pay to advertise my business Buchhalters: Selling Books for You based on the number of clicks as opposed to the number of views of the ad).
Web 2.0 is a significant step forward in the development of products and services in the cyberspace. If the next step is web 3.0 what is the revolutionary idea behind it?
Over lunch with Jason Freedman, my TA from the Tuck Bridge Business Program and one of the co-founders of FlightCaster and OpenVote, I got a chance to discuss web 2.0. The definition of web 2.0 is given by Tim O'Reilly in “Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software”. O’ Reilly claims that the burst of the dot-com bubble gave the birth of a new generation of companies – web 2.0 enterprises. Does it mean that the innovative companies which survived the dot-com bubble are the so-called web 2.0? Jason argued that those are companies which are not simply innovative but essentially provide a service or a product which exists only in the cyberspace; they do not replicate an existing business model which is possible outside of the cyberspace and which can be sustained via other media and distribution channels without the use of the Internet space.
Another feature of web 2.0 is the amazing opportunity to create interactions for the users of the web 2.0 products and services. Web 2.0 involves a great degree of participation on multiple levels (twitter, for example, makes possible one-to-many as opposed to one-to-one communication), dynamic interaction (blogging in comparison to writing a book enables readers to comment instantaneously as opposed to writing reviews in a next edition of the book), and tailored client specific solutions (I pay to advertise my business Buchhalters: Selling Books for You based on the number of clicks as opposed to the number of views of the ad).
Web 2.0 is a significant step forward in the development of products and services in the cyberspace. If the next step is web 3.0 what is the revolutionary idea behind it?
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Wireless freedom
"For you it was incremental - here it is revolutionary", says Isaac Nsereko of MTN, Africa's biggest mobile operator, in order to describe how crucial mobile communications are in the developing world. Mobile phones do not only provide a more convenient way than a landline to people to make calls.According to a recent study, adding an extra 10 phones per 100 people in a developing country boosts growth in GDP per person 0.8 percentage points.
The statistics point to a tremendous growth in mobile subscribers in the developing world and especially in the emerging markets of India, China, Brazil. In the year till March 2009 an additional 128m signed up in India, 89m in China, and 96m in Africa.
It might seem surprising that even people of the lowest class can afford a mobile phone in countries such as India, where only 89 per cent have access to improved water sources, 44 per cent of children below 5 suffer from malnutrition, or the literacy rate (( % of population age 15+) is still approximately 61 per cent (Source: World Bank, 9/24/08)....
I was surprised to see modernity and tradition coming together in India. A lot of women who are attached to their families and homes and serve as housewives but they are mobile and use freely wireless communication on a daily basis.The Indian model in telecommunication services has proofed very powerful and many operators in other countries are adopting it.
A second trend is observed in China. Two of the leading telecoms there, Huawei and ZTE, are building trust with clients and reputation on a global scale because they are focusing on innovation.
I consider the third trend most beneficial for countries in the developing world. In Western Europe, America, and Australia data services have been in existence for a while and have revolved around music downloads and gaming. In the developing world mobile services such as mobile-phone based agriculture advice, money transfer, health care etc will have an immediate economic and social impact.
Source: The Economist Sept 26 - October 2nd
The statistics point to a tremendous growth in mobile subscribers in the developing world and especially in the emerging markets of India, China, Brazil. In the year till March 2009 an additional 128m signed up in India, 89m in China, and 96m in Africa.
It might seem surprising that even people of the lowest class can afford a mobile phone in countries such as India, where only 89 per cent have access to improved water sources, 44 per cent of children below 5 suffer from malnutrition, or the literacy rate (( % of population age 15+) is still approximately 61 per cent (Source: World Bank, 9/24/08)....
I was surprised to see modernity and tradition coming together in India. A lot of women who are attached to their families and homes and serve as housewives but they are mobile and use freely wireless communication on a daily basis.The Indian model in telecommunication services has proofed very powerful and many operators in other countries are adopting it.
A second trend is observed in China. Two of the leading telecoms there, Huawei and ZTE, are building trust with clients and reputation on a global scale because they are focusing on innovation.
I consider the third trend most beneficial for countries in the developing world. In Western Europe, America, and Australia data services have been in existence for a while and have revolved around music downloads and gaming. In the developing world mobile services such as mobile-phone based agriculture advice, money transfer, health care etc will have an immediate economic and social impact.
Source: The Economist Sept 26 - October 2nd
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Revolution Money
While looking for companies in the Internet Software and Services space with the same core capabilities of PayPal, I came across a company with the beautiful name “Revolution Money”. Revolution Money provides online payment solutions. It offers online money transfer services and RevolutionCard, an anonymous PIN-protected credit card. Revolution Money was founded in 2007 and is based in Washington, District Of Columbia. eBay Inc. and its subsidiaries provide online marketplaces for the sale of goods and services, online payments services, and online communication offerings to individuals and businesses in the United States and internationally. It operates in three segments: Marketplaces, Payments, and Communications. PayPal, Inc., a subsidiary of eBay offers online payment solutions. The company’s suite enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments online using a bank account, credit card, or stored balance. Additionally, it provides electronic fund transfer and billing services. (Source: CapitalIQ)
New Revolution Moneyexchange Plug-in for AOL's AIM Service, which is Ameira’s largest instant messaging community. While I have not used the MoneyExchange plug-in and cannot testify to how user-friendly it is, I am sure it allows for spreading the New Revolution services as there is a huge number of AIM users.
As for the RevolutionCard, an anonymous PIN-protected credit card, which Revolution Money provides to its clients, I am not sure how pervasive it will be. A lot of companies provide credit cards and have an option of pin-protection. Revolution Money believes it is has a low-cost payment card network. It prides itself in a proprietary processing technology platform.
In any case, the name of the company is an easy catch for investors and for clients.
New Revolution Moneyexchange Plug-in for AOL's AIM Service, which is Ameira’s largest instant messaging community. While I have not used the MoneyExchange plug-in and cannot testify to how user-friendly it is, I am sure it allows for spreading the New Revolution services as there is a huge number of AIM users.
As for the RevolutionCard, an anonymous PIN-protected credit card, which Revolution Money provides to its clients, I am not sure how pervasive it will be. A lot of companies provide credit cards and have an option of pin-protection. Revolution Money believes it is has a low-cost payment card network. It prides itself in a proprietary processing technology platform.
In any case, the name of the company is an easy catch for investors and for clients.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Strategic About Your Time
http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/hbr/mcgrath/2008/05/be-strategic-about-your-time.html
An old proverb says, "time is money". No wonder my Training the Street instructor wrote "wasted money" instead of "wasted time", which he intended to write to indicate the period of time we are waiting for projects as summer analysts to be staffed on, checking mail, responding to dozens and hundreds of messages, updating all the possible social networks we belong to.I am global and believe in connectivity...However, unless you are specialized in working in the social networks space like Mark Z or Evan Williams, what is the value you add while twittering or facebooking...0...
Rita McGrath, professor at Columbia Business School, who studies innovation, corporate venturing, and entrepreneurship, writes, "In the frantic buzz of most managerial lives, I see people running from meeting to meeting, consulting their BlackBerrys as though in prayer, desperately working into the night to cope with a deluge of emails and otherwise being busy, busy, busy. The dilemma of all this activity, however, is that it is for the most part what academics long ago termed "non value-added time."
Convenience and efficiency should go hand in hand.While it is convenient to have a blackberry device or an iphone, I also believe it is highly distracting to hear the buzz or the vibration every time I get a message.
People should adapt to change as it comes pervasively. Technology is the prerequisite for development and it certainly needs its space. I am certainly its most ardent advocate. However, it is a personal choice to keep a sanity check on oneself....in the busy, busy, busy life we have.
An old proverb says, "time is money". No wonder my Training the Street instructor wrote "wasted money" instead of "wasted time", which he intended to write to indicate the period of time we are waiting for projects as summer analysts to be staffed on, checking mail, responding to dozens and hundreds of messages, updating all the possible social networks we belong to.I am global and believe in connectivity...However, unless you are specialized in working in the social networks space like Mark Z or Evan Williams, what is the value you add while twittering or facebooking...0...
Rita McGrath, professor at Columbia Business School, who studies innovation, corporate venturing, and entrepreneurship, writes, "In the frantic buzz of most managerial lives, I see people running from meeting to meeting, consulting their BlackBerrys as though in prayer, desperately working into the night to cope with a deluge of emails and otherwise being busy, busy, busy. The dilemma of all this activity, however, is that it is for the most part what academics long ago termed "non value-added time."
Convenience and efficiency should go hand in hand.While it is convenient to have a blackberry device or an iphone, I also believe it is highly distracting to hear the buzz or the vibration every time I get a message.
People should adapt to change as it comes pervasively. Technology is the prerequisite for development and it certainly needs its space. I am certainly its most ardent advocate. However, it is a personal choice to keep a sanity check on oneself....in the busy, busy, busy life we have.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Twenty Great Books about Revolution according to Amazon
1. States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China by Theda Skocpol
2. History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky
3. Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century by Eric R. Wolf
4. Guerrillas and Revolution in Latin America by Timothy P. Wickham-Crowley
5. States, Ideologies, and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of Iran, Nicaragua, and the Philippines by Misagh Parsa
6. Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World by Jack A. Goldstone
7. The Power of Tiananmen: State-Society Relations and the 1989 Beijing Student Movement by Dingxin Zhao
8. Theorizing Revolutions by John Foran
10. The Colombian Civil War by Bert Ruiz
11. The Encyclopedia Of Political Revolutions by Goldstone J
12. Prelude to Revolution: France in May 1968 (Updated Edition) (Radical 60s) by Daniel Singer
13. The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course, and Legacy by Marifeli Perez-Stable
14. Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993 by Yezid Sayigh
15. Social Origins of the Iranian Revolution (Studies in Political Economy Series) by Misagh Parsa
16. Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America by Walter Lafeber
17. Modern Latin American Revolutions: Second Edition by Eric Selbin
18. European Revolutions: 1492-1992 (Making of Europe) by Charles Tilly
19. The Future of Revolutions: Rethinking Radical Change in the Age of Globalization by John Foran
20. No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements, 1945-1991 (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics) by Jeff Goodwin
2. History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky
3. Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century by Eric R. Wolf
4. Guerrillas and Revolution in Latin America by Timothy P. Wickham-Crowley
5. States, Ideologies, and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of Iran, Nicaragua, and the Philippines by Misagh Parsa
6. Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World by Jack A. Goldstone
7. The Power of Tiananmen: State-Society Relations and the 1989 Beijing Student Movement by Dingxin Zhao
8. Theorizing Revolutions by John Foran
10. The Colombian Civil War by Bert Ruiz
11. The Encyclopedia Of Political Revolutions by Goldstone J
12. Prelude to Revolution: France in May 1968 (Updated Edition) (Radical 60s) by Daniel Singer
13. The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course, and Legacy by Marifeli Perez-Stable
14. Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949-1993 by Yezid Sayigh
15. Social Origins of the Iranian Revolution (Studies in Political Economy Series) by Misagh Parsa
16. Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America by Walter Lafeber
17. Modern Latin American Revolutions: Second Edition by Eric Selbin
18. European Revolutions: 1492-1992 (Making of Europe) by Charles Tilly
19. The Future of Revolutions: Rethinking Radical Change in the Age of Globalization by John Foran
20. No Other Way Out: States and Revolutionary Movements, 1945-1991 (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics) by Jeff Goodwin
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tech Bee and the Inspiration of Blogging
Blogging requires inspiration more than persistently entering blog posts. That is why I am sharing a true passion through this entry.
I have been empowered by technology and business and have tried to think of them as an integrate whole. Feeling that there is a void of an organization on campus which spans both fields, I decided to create an open platform where the two fields come together. The product was Tech Bee or the Business and Technology Society on campus.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~enche20v/techbee/Index.html
The mission of the Business and Technology Society (Tech Bee) is to become an open platform for students of the 5-College area (Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Hampshire College, Amherst College, and University of Massachusetts in Amherst) to learn about the interaction between business and technology as well as about breakthrough innovations in the two fields through both live and online presentations. Furthermore, that will be an outlet for brainstorming, catalyzing what is given and creating what has not even been dreamed of. Marching through concepts such as web 2.0 and 3.0, open source and social networks, we, the tech bees, want to be up-to date and engaged in the new information technology age, that is to live business and technology.
I have been empowered by technology and business and have tried to think of them as an integrate whole. Feeling that there is a void of an organization on campus which spans both fields, I decided to create an open platform where the two fields come together. The product was Tech Bee or the Business and Technology Society on campus.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~enche20v/techbee/Index.html
The mission of the Business and Technology Society (Tech Bee) is to become an open platform for students of the 5-College area (Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Hampshire College, Amherst College, and University of Massachusetts in Amherst) to learn about the interaction between business and technology as well as about breakthrough innovations in the two fields through both live and online presentations. Furthermore, that will be an outlet for brainstorming, catalyzing what is given and creating what has not even been dreamed of. Marching through concepts such as web 2.0 and 3.0, open source and social networks, we, the tech bees, want to be up-to date and engaged in the new information technology age, that is to live business and technology.
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