Part I:  A brief history of Web 2.0

When people do a Google search of emerging + church I know they won't expect to land at this particular post.  And yet, attaching the word emerging to Web technology is an accurate way of capturing the partially opaque, partially transparent view we have of the new media applications currently coming into focus.  They are, on the one hand, somewhat cellular and embryonic and on the other hand, developed enough to be morphing into a second generation of application and use. 

The ultimate significance of these new media technologies is unclear at this time.  Thus, their impact on the church specifically, and other social institutions in general is not yet defined.  What we do know is we are in the midst of a revolution.  Across not only the Internet, but now within most social institutions, in business and industry, across countries and cultures, there is an 'emerging' technologically- driven society that will eventually span all strata of our world.  The digital age is producing a global nation.  And the global nation is being given a voice.

Wikipedia notes the term Web 2.0 arose in 2004 when O'Reilly Media, in collaboration with MediaLive International, used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences.  Following the conferences, the term stuck and has become a kind of a conceptual umbrella under which the second/next generation of Internet applications are often grouped. The Web 2.0 concept was intended to function as a core "set of principles and practices" that applied to common threads and tendencies observed across many different technologies.

Although Web 2.0 has become an over-arching buzzword that people use to describe a wide range of online activities and applications, there are certain defining characteristics that help identify what constitutes Web 2.0.  These defining traits include (but are not limited to) these three central characteristics:

• the utilization of collective intelligence
• the production of network-enabled interactive services
• the control of data placed in users' hands 

To summarize: collective, interactive and user-driven. 

In contrast, the early Web (now a.k.a. Web 1.0) primarily involved static websites, the use of search engines, and surfing from one website to the next.  Web 2.0 moves the usage of the Web towards a more dynamic, interactive, non-static model.  The next generation Web will be known as the "participatory Web" with some of the clearest examples being blogs, wikis and social networking sites.

Currently, there is a measurable explosion in the software applications that do not behave like the non-interactive Web we have known over the last 10 years.  Web 2.0 replaces the authoritative nature of traditional institutions with the surging wisdom of crowds.  This does not change the message nor the direction of the message of the Christian church.  The wisdom that comes from heaven is described in the Bible as having a completely different nature than earthly wisdom; it originates from a different source and displays a unique set of attributes (see for example James 3:13 – 17).  God's wisdom comes from above.  No amount of human wisdom can create the Spirit nature of Heaven's wisdom. 

Thus, Web 2.0 technology does not change the message of the church nor where the message originates.  It will, however, change how, when and to whom it is delivered.  The church is now offered the chance to participate in an interactive worldwide conversation.  It is a conversation that Web 2.0 applications will foster and faciliate.

Next: Part II: Examples of Web 2.0

Next: Part III: Conclusion