Similar to traditional Web services, the Web 2.0 makes data and functionality accessible. Users can access Web 2.0 services by browsing the Web sites but also through APIs.
Typically, APIs allow to add, change, and retrieve data.
Content is disseminated by RSS/Atom feeds that allows users to pull the data without ever visiting the site itself.
Most content created in the Web 2.0 is micro-content: small, self-contained units, such as blog entries, images and other multimedia content well suited for remixing.
This micro-content can be combined with other data and services, e. g., tags of Flickr photos can be used to show the location in Google Maps. In difference to traditional Web-services, the Web 2.0 approach is characterized by pragmatic solutions and lightweight formats.
Additionally, existing Web 2.0 services often disseminate their functionality by plug-in modular components, so called
widgets . This allows integrating the service on a given Web-site by adding only several lines of code.
For instance, the microblogging service used in our second use case can be added in the blogs of the learners very easily. The potential for education resulting from this mix-up / mash-up culture is twofold. First, individual creativity
can take place at a level higher than content: just like new content is created by combining other content, new functionality is created by mash-ups.