Web 2.0

WHAT DO I THINK WEB 2.0 IS?

I think web 2.0 is all about an interactive inter-web. I think it makes complete sense why they named it this. It is a whole new generation of using the internet, just like when the new iPhone comes out, it is the next generation, so it is the next number.

Even though I think that it is cool that they recognize this new generation of the internet, I do not think it needs all of the hype. In our world, everything is constantly evolving. If you believe in the theory of evolution, we evolved from apes, and crocodiles evolved from dinosaurs. It would only make sense that the internet would evolve from only being able post limited information to responding to it. It is now ingrained into us to constantly learn, change, and be different.

I think Web 2.0 is allowing us to continue our growth as humans. Every day we learn something new, we make changes to things in our lives, and we all do everything differently. When technology evolves we all have to learn to use it, some people like to change it, and all technology has something a little different about it. I think this is what makes Web 2.0 something great, and I also think this will lead to the next generation in the involvement of the internet.

I remember when web 2.0 was just starting, I always used AOL Instant Messenger. I thought it was great I was able to interact with my friends without having to call them.I used Photo Bucket all the time and it was great because I could then embed those images into MySpace and share with all of my friends. Then came Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. The list is now endless of ways everyone world wide can interact with each other via the internet.

WHAT WEB 2.0 ACTUALLY IS: 

How many know that the internet has now been classified into different generations? Probably not many, just those who classified the generations, those whom have done research about it and those who live their life in the world of web publishing. Web 1.0 was the generation of publishing to the internet. During this generation there was no social interaction via the inter-web. Web 2.0 is the generation we are in today, the interactive internet, but this is not a new concept.

In 2005, Tim O'Reilly, the President and CEO of O'Reilly  Media, Inc.writes "The bursting of the dot-com bubble in the fall of 2001 marked a turning point for the web." This was when the interactive web began.

Jennifer Kyrnin from About.com explains "Web 2.0 is really starting to mean a combination of the technology (like AJAX) allowing the customers to actually interact with the information." in her article, Getting Beyond the Hype of Web 2.0.

According to  CBS News "Web 2.0 represents an important shift in the way digital information is created, shared, stored, distributed, and manipulated. In the years ahead, it will have a significant impact in the way businesses use both the Internet and enterprise-level IT applications"

In conclusion, web 2.0 progressed from the non-interactive internet of web 1.0. This concept of web generations has been around for about 10 years and for the past 10 years we have been in the web 2.0 generation of interactive internet. Although some will argue the true definition of web 2.0, but it all comes down to the fact that people can now interact and communicate with one another via the web.  No one is sure when web 3.0 will come around, but when it does, it will make another significant impact for individuals and for businesses.

Wiki.Wiki.Wiki

I have never done a WIKI before in my life. I never really use Wikipedia or anything because I have been told all throughout my school career that they are an unreliable source of information. I would like to tell all my teachers and professors who have said that, they are WRONG! A lot of us in the class struggled with our wikis because we had to make sure everything was properly cited, that our information is 100 percent accurate, and it had to be professionally written. With all of the strict guidelines and the tough admins, there is no way people can post inaccurate information.

THE IDEA FOR MY WIKI

My grandmother owns Melanie's Sweets Unlimited, a local bakery here in Buffalo. She has been around for about 35 years, and she really does not have any modern advertising or marketing skills. I believe, because of this she is losing out on a huge opportunity. I figured that not a lot of people really know about the bakery, unless your parents or grandparents have taken you there, then a wiki would be great to give people history on her bakery. Plus, I decided to use BufWiki, which apparently tourists and other people visiting Buffalo use to find something to do. Why not go to the old Broadway Market and get a feel for old Buffalo while you're in town?

NO ADVERTISING ON WIKIS

I thought that maybe I can make this article more towards advertising for my grandmothers business. Then, we were taught that if it even could be marketing anything about the business, we could not have it. Wikis are supposed to be strictly factual. I could not find any historic background on her bakery at all, so I decided to interview her myself. My grandmother loves attention, so she was thrilled to do the interview.

THE INTERVIEW

My grandmother was thrilled to see me when I came in for the interview. She had me wait a while because she had to make sure the cookies got out of the oven in time and the cake she frosted was put in the refrigerator, but it was okay because I got some great information from her. I began to ask questions about when she opened, why she opened, what locations she had, why they closed, so on and so forth. I found out a lot of things that I personally did not even know about my grandmother and her business.

THE ARTICLE

 I began writing the article almost immediately after the interview. It was really difficult to make sure my article was mostly factual because I like to write a lot of fluff sometimes, and I definitely use words to make things sound better that could be considered advertising. I finally got into a good flow and kept writing and writing. I made it to about 900 words and I had nothing else to say. Then I remembered a brief conversation I had with my grandmother about holidays and Easter. Those are the more busy times at the Broadway Market, where her stand is located. She was telling me about her polish baked goods and how she is a big part of the Polish community. I expanded upon that and got a little over 1000 words. I was so excited to start coding and everything.

CREATING THE WIKI

I wanted to create a wiki on BufWiki. Since my grandmother is local, and she is all about supporting Buffalo, I figured a BufWiki would be perfect. So I started studying the codes so that I would be ready to post. I had my external links ready to be posted and my images as well. Then I check the class blog and I read through it and I thought that our wiki was supposed to be published before class the one day....so I published it. Guess what! IT WAS TAKEN DOWN! I felt bad because then Professor Pabico had to deal with the rude admin. Thank God she found out a way for us to post them with them not getting closed down immediately!

RE-CREATING MY WHOLE WIKI

Well I had all the article saved, but I did not saved the coding with the text. MY BAD! So, when I went over what I needed to fix with Professor Pabico, I figured it was fine because I had to redo a lot of my article. I had to go through and take out certain words that could hint towards me advertising, I had to make mine more like a wiki that was on Wikipedia, and I had to add the interview section to the wiki because I had no sources to cite. After I got all of that done, it was all uphill from there. I got to code everything and at the end of class I finally was done and over this wiki. I published it, and publishing something on the internet never felt so good!

FINISHING MY WIKI
I was so nervous that as soon as I finished that my wiki would be taken down immediately. The next thought that popped in my head was that I never want to create a wiki again. After that I was looking through BufWiki and there was like not real wiki pages.I think that these admins should be just a little more lenient so that people actually will use the site. It would help them out, it would help out Buffalo, and it would help out businesses a lot. I understand they are trying to keep their cite clean and creditable, but if it is not popular people won't use it either. I feel that if someone (like myself) went and interviewed the owner of a business and wanted to post a wiki about them and the company, that we should be able to. The owner is not going to lie to us or give us false information. Just because I could not cite anything, because there is no information about the business does not mean it is not creditable.

Melanie's Sweets Unlimited

Location: 999 Broadway St, Buffalo, NY 14212

Phone: 716 895-1959

Hours: Monday- Saturday: 8:00 am- 5:00 pm

Sunday: Closed

Owner(s): Melanie Krygier-LaMastra

Payment Method: Cash, Credit Card, and Benefits Card

Prices: $5 - $20

'''Melanie's Sweets Unlimited''' is a local ice cream shop and bakery that has recently downsized to one location, back to her roots, in the Broadway Market. Melanie Krygier-Lamastra came from a long line of bakers. Her father owned a bakery that was a Buffalo staple back in the mid 1900's. She faced a lot of diversity being a woman trying to make a name for herself in the 1970's and 1980's, but she had a desire to be a great baker in the Queen City. Melanie has been in business for 35 years, and has fulfilled her dreams.

While working for her father, Melanie opened Broadway Quality Bakery in the Broadway Market in 1978. At her first bakery she only made and sold baked goods.  She then decided it was time to expand, so she opened Melanie's Sweets Unlimited. In the front of the Broadway Market, Melanie began selling a variety of sweets such as candies, chocolates, ice cream, and her homemade- hand decorated cakes. After being there for three years, Melanie decided it was time to find a new location to again expand her business.

In 1981, she opened shop in the outskirts of the city, on Harlem road in Cheektowaga. Her shop was located right next door to the Polish Villa on the corner of Harlem road and Clinton road. This location was mainly an ice cream shop, and she used this location in conjunction with her Broadway Market location to bake all of her homemade, made from scratch, cakes. She mainly served Charlap's ice cream and John Becks custard. Eventually she switched over to Perry's Ice Cream and Upstate Farms custard for her sundaes and shakes. Even though business was steady, Melanie decided it was time to close up shop on Harlem Road in 2005.

In 1987, Melanie opened shop downtown, in the Theatre District, right next door to Shea's Performing Arts Center. This location was one of Melanie’s most popular shops in Buffalo. Here she served ice cream, sandwiches, soups, and her Buffalo famous treats. She kept her cake case filled with all different cakes. Her award winning red velvet, and other traditional cakes such as German chocolate, carrot cake, dark forest, and triple chocolate cake. She catered to the theatergoers and the performers from the theaters in the area. She was open all year to serve hot soups and sandwiches to the workers, and performers at Shea’s for lunch and dinner. Also, it was a great place for night goers to visit for a late night snack before heading to the bars and clubs. Melanie unfortunately lost her lease in 2011 and was not able to re-sign due to expansion of offices in the building.

Aside from her everyday treats and sweets, Melanie is known for her special occasion cakes. She has been making wedding cakes from scratch and hand decorating them since she started 35 years ago. She makes all of the butter cream roses by hand, she pipes details with precision, and she creates a traditional wedding cake with butter cream frosting and decorations. She has a collage of pictures of cakes that she has decorated outside of her stand in the Broadway market. Most cakes she makes are hand frosted, without fondant. She uses traditional decorating techniques and that’s what separates her from the new bakeries setting up shop in the area.

Melanie's Sweets Unlimited is also a popular vendor for a lot of summer festivals in the Buffalo area. She started doing various little festivals. Melanie then stepped into the bigger festivals such as the Polish festival, the Wing festival, and most importantly The Taste of Buffalo. Melanie participated in the Taste of Buffalo from 1989 until 2006, and she recently made a brief come back in 2011. She won Buffalo's Best Cannoli in 1989 and all other years until 2005. Melanie hangs her award proudly in her stand at the Broadway Market.  She has also won the best Red Velvet cake at the Polish Festival in Cheektowaga, New York. Melanie has also been recognized in the Buffalo News for being a spokesperson for the Market. She has been on all of the local news stations in Buffalo for her special cakes around the holiday season. Her hummingbird cake has even been featured in an article in the Buffalo News for how different and tasty it is.

Like previously mentioned, Melanie sells a variety of sweets.  A lot of products carried at Melanie’s Sweets Unlimited are from other local companies. She has Alethea's Chocolates , Crystal Beach products, and Costanzo's rolls. Melanie sells a lot of Alethea’s sponge candy and sugar free chocolates at her stand, but her most popular items aside from her cakes are the Crystal beach products. Many people in Buffalo used to go up to crystal beach for a little getaway, and no one left without getting a famous Crystal Beach sucker. Since Crystal Beach is no longer in operation, the closest you can get to it is through its suckers, sugar waffles, and Loganberry syrup.  Melanie gets these products delivered fresh every week and a lot of her customers come in just to buy the taste of nostalgia.

Another time to come in to the Market for some nostalgic moments would be around Easter and Christmas. Most people in Buffalo grew up visiting The Market at these times if the year. At Easter, her wonderfully decorated lamb, chicken, egg, and rabbit shaped cakes are a top seller.  Not many people know this, but Melanie follows a lot of Polish tradition, and is well known in the Polish community in Buffalo. She carries special polish baked goods for all different polish celebrations. At Easter time she makes placek, chalka, babka and the traditional lamb cakes as previously mentioned. To start off her Easter season she bakes fresh paczki for Fat Tuesday.