We’re all looking for that magical web 2.0 definition that we can finally say “Yep, that’s the one” but whilst it may never arrive we still see many attempts to write it. Here’s one that I particularly like.

Sean Carton writes:

So what is Web 2.0? Here are six elements that define the change in how we all think about and use the Web:

• Web 2.0 is about data abstraction. All those Web 2.0 functions people love to talk about, such as tagging, sharing, XML, open APIs (define), and mashups, only became possible because we now understand how to free information from containers. Though the Web credo “information wants to be free” has been around for a while, we’ve only recently been able to make it happen. Pulling information out of proprietary containers allows you to do pretty much whatever you want with it, whether driving collaborative sites, interfacing with mobile devices, or something else.
• Web 2.0 takes broadband and Moore’s Law for granted. Sites like YouTube and Google Docs & Spreadsheets wouldn’t be possible in a non-broadband world populated by powerful computers. All Web 2.0′s multimedia features, especially video, start with the assumption bandwidth is basically free and readily accessible.

Read the full article for the rest of this good list, I’m going to test it out as a reference next time I’m asked “Is this Web 2.0?”.