Sometimes you need to step back and read instead of simply involving yourself in order to realize that things like this are happening–

If you haven’t noticed, the WWW has been changing over the past years. Remember the days when you (or at least I) had personal websites? It was the era of Web 1.0.

We’ve now (mostly) shifted to Web 2.0, and that’s not just a buzzword. It’s been happening and developing. The WWW has been called a resource, but it’s now more than that. Web 2.0 is a term that symbolizes the gradual online movement to a more social experience. Once when you had a personal website (”homepage”) you displayed information and cool things that you wanted people to see. Generally the only way for the visitor to give the webmaster feedback was through email. Blogging, the Web 2.0 counterpart of a simple personal website, encourages visitors to give feedback frequently. Trackbacks allow other blogs to easily continue the topic discussed on one blog at other blogs. The development of this blogosphere has (probably) spearheaded this Web 2.0 movement.

del.icio.us and Flickr are good examples of other types of Web 2.0 sites. Both are community-based and encourage interaction. With del.icio.us you can easily see who else has bookmarked certain sites that you’ve bookmarked and what other bookmarks they have. In the Flickr community, anyone can comment or add notes on your photos. These Web 2.0 sites are dynamic, encouraging participation, contrasting with static Web 1.0 sites that encourage people to simply read.

Accessibility is another facet of Web 2.0. The promotion of XHTML 1.0 and 1.5 W3C standards has enabled websites to be rendered more easily and by more browsers. The growth in usage of feeds like RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and Atom allows readers of blogs or other online publishing mediums to read articles elsewhere, using Mozilla Thunderbird, Bloglines, or even the new Google Reader. Greater accessibility nicely complements specific parts of Web 2.0.

Easy access and contribution of thoughts disseminated across the web– that’s Web 2.0.

Read more at the Wikipedia article on Web 2.0 or Tim O’Reilly’s article on Web 2.0.

Djmag’s annual Top 100 DJs of the year issue is out. Good thing I actually made it in time to vote this year, so the results aren’t simply a pile of statistics to me. Tiesto has finally been taken out of the number one seat, replaced by Paul van Dyk, who’s been in the top ten of the list for the past eight or so years. I’m not saying that Tiesto is really such a horrible DJ, because he isn’t– but he has had that top spot in djmag’s poll for the previous three years in a row. In my opinion, Paul van Dyk really deserves this award for his contributions to trance and the EDM world in general. Many on tranceaddict say that he hasn’t had a particularly good year in the scene, but his contributions are still noteworthy, and he had never been voted to number one. Congratulations, PvD!

So why did Tiesto drop a spot? Armin remained in his third place spot, while van Dyk and Tiesto traded the top two spots. Maybe Tiesto lost some fans, while van Dyk retained the solid base he’s maintained. It’s a little strange, but still believable, that Armin didn’t garner enough votes to rise a step or two (many people thought he would). One possible and plausible reason is that many tranceaddict members who liked Armin (including me) put Mikey Mike as their number one vote instead, putting Armin as their number two vote. Although there are plenty of people who dislike Armin on tranceaddict, there are also plenty who like him, probably outnumbering those who like Paul van Dyk.

By the way, tranceaddict had its own separate top DJ of 2005 poll, and the top three winners of that poll were Armin, Paul van Dyk, and Tiesto– in that order, so you can’t completely dismiss my guessplanation.

You might be wondering who this Mikey Mike is that everyone (a lot of people) on tranceaddict voted for in the djmag poll. There was a campaign on the forums to show everyone how ridiculous the djmag top DJs poll was by voting for an amateur, just some guy from tranceaddict who is completely unknown in the international dance scene. Mikey Mike actually made it to the 110th spot, beating actual world-famous DJs and producers like Ronski Speed and The Thrillseekers. We’ll put someone from tranceaddict on the list again next year, and he’ll have an even higher rank!

I got tagged by Derrik to do this–

Five songs I’m really enjoying right now 1. Mint Royale - See You in the Morning 2. Whiteroom - The White Room 3. Unknown Source - Cruentus 4. Armin van Buuren - Serenity (Signum Remix) 5. Altitude - Altitude (Original Mix)

I tag Raiun, Perry, Lee, Hank, and Weikei to do this!

Feel obligated to fill it out… kind of.

Actually, this one is pretty hard for me, because there are always a lot of songs I can listen to and enjoy at any time, so the list above includes (some) songs I’ve listened to the most in the past week. One of the songs not listed that I’ve really been enjoying is the incomplete one I’m currently producing in FL.

I promise I’ll write a real post/article on here sometime soon (this week).