Maintenance requests--a Web 2.0 tool in action

Practical every magazine we pick up these days that in any way related to technology talks about "Web 2.0." Despite all of the buzz this term has received (beginning around 2003 and gaining steam ever since), few people have the foggiest idea of what it is. If a picture is indeed worth a thousand words, the example of our own list of Maintenance Requests may help make the concept clearer. Many of you have discovered the link on the right-hand side of the screen which will allow you to view everything, the requests completed, those pending, those from your school, as well as those from other schools.

For the last decade, the "web" has been all about you and I being consumers. Content was produced by smart people in far-away places with advanced knowledge of specialized software and access to servers. You and I simply read what they wrote. Web 2.0 has changed all of that. Tools such as "Google Docs" allows average people to be producers. With no knowledge of any special software and without needing access to anyone's server, our principals and maintenance department collectively build and maintain this list. Furthermore, they are not limited by time or geographic location. The list can be updated from anywhere in the world just as easily as it can be edited from from across the street.