MIST 7500 Final Exam - Blog Post 4

Hello again from CyberSpace!

This post is dedicated to Applications on the Internet and the way that they are made. There has been a lot of movement in this arena over the last decade.

Before we look at the types of Internet Applications available, lets examine the history of the Internet.

I'm not going all the way back to the ARPANET, just 2004 when the term "Web 2.0" was coined. The idea of Web 2.0 was that the Internet is moving from a storefront system, where users are only allowed to look at static pages, to a more in-depth and interactive system for people to actually use. To perfectly illustrate this point, Facebook first launched in 2004.

Ever since then, the trend in web usage has moved to interactive applications, giving users greater control over what they access and more opportunities to contribute themselves. My favorite example of interactive is Google Maps, an interactive map that can be used for all sorts of things. I get the most mileage out of Google maps (pun intended) when trying to get directions, but Google has added traffic, satellite images, and even business names to their maps, making for a very rich user experience. Something you may not realize, however, is that Google Maps is available as an API. This allows maps to be placed into other websites without any coding work on the web-owner's part. See the example below:

View Larger Map

I didn't code that, nor create the map, nor plot anything to the map. I just copied and pasted some code, and I have a rich, interactive map available in my blog. There are several other fantastic web apps available from Google, like Google Docs and Google Sites, but this isn't a sales pitch. Other examples of web apps include streaming video sites like Hulu and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Several web apps are not totally web-based and fall into the category of a Client Application, which require some sort of program download that requires an Internet connection to be useful. Probably the best known example of this is Skype.

Hopefully the myriad of examples here demonstrate the vast options of Web-Based Applications. It hasn't been slowing down since 2004, and doesn't show any signs of stopping.

Up next, we'll discuss the data behind all those web applications.