O'Reilly Media coined the term Web 2.0. Many have asked if Web 2.0 is intrinsically different from what has come before... hasn't the web always been interactive, by the very nature of hyperlinks?
People interact with texts via hyperlinks, and the ability to post text to websites is nothing new (although the bandwidth to post and watch, for example, videos could possibly be argued to be a more recent phenomena).
So, a cynical reading might suggest that Web 2.0 was merely hype... although an optimistic cynic might say that this hype has lead to a renewed vigour and enthusiasm for the web, filling the void left after the dotcom bubble burst
So, what does it mean when O'Reilly now talks about craft 2.0?
Crafts & web 2.0 can be seen as going hand in hand. There is a proliferation of craft blogs and craft networking sites, over half of the knitters I know have a blog. All but one participate in the Ravelry knitting community site.
So, is Craft 2.0 an attempt by an interested corporate party to hype this phenomenon? Or is this jumping on an already existent bandwaggon? Or merely giving a much needed name to a growing phenomenon?
Is it an attempt to give crafts a 'cool' '2.0' type of label? And in doing so, to increase their popularity and/or create a bubble of enthusiasm and financial backing?
An interesting blog post on this theme can be found here. It mentions that the new Craft magazine [note: the original posting lined to Make - also by O'Reilly, but with a more technological slant] 'was initiated by O'Reilly Media'.
No comments:
Post a Comment