Web 2.0 Hype or Happiness

Short Description
Web 2.0 has initiated a new age of Web interaction. Countless … community sites, and other Web 2.0 sites, do not promote …

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Content
Web 2.0: Hype or Happiness?
Mary Zajicek
Department of Computing
Oxford Brookes University, Wheatley Campus
Oxford OX33 1HX, UK
Tel: 00 44 (0) 1865 484579
mzajicek@brookes.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
Web 2.0 has initiated a new age of Web interaction. Countless
everyday activities such as seeking information, shopping, filling
in forms and making appointments can be done effectively and
often more cheaply on the Web. However many of the new
community sites, and other Web 2.0 sites, do not promote
accessibility in terms of inclusivity. They are built for, and are of
most benefit to, young socially integrated people who own their
own laptop and live in a world of readily available radio LAN and
fast access broadband. However many older or disabled people
are living on low budgets and do not have access to such things.
Those for whom the Web is inaccessible for whatever reason will
become increasingly excluded from mainstream life if it is not
made accessible to them. This paper argues for a holistic
approach to accessibly which addresses all aspects of the user’s
life. It tracks the impact of the advent of Web 2.0 on Web
accessibility in its widest sense. It starts with…