First, a prediction: I'm the kinda' guy who buys something -- and then it goes on sale. To that end, this blog entry on Web 2.0 will probably serve as the inauguration for web 3.0, thus making my commentary seem irrelevant and woefully out of touch. Nonetheless, I think that it's noteworthy that the English language (already bloated with more words than any other) added its millionth word last month. The word? You guessed it; Web 2.0 (wait, isn't that 2 words? Or at least a word + number?) For those having slept through the recent transition from version 1.0 of the web to version 2.0 (I blinked and it was here,) "Web 2.0 refers to what is perceived as a second generation of web development and web design. It is characterized as facilitating communication, information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration... (and has) led to the development and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and web applications (like) social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies."**
The progress of the Internet is, without a doubt, interesting. The advent of our millionth word, perhaps a bit more interesting. The fact that language continues to grow in a time when words can seemingly mean nothing at all may be the most interesting thing of all. Let's shoot for less words -- and more substance. Any takers?
* Source: The Global Language Monitor
** Source: Wikipedia
