Comparative Analysis of Interactive Web Services

The fact that interactive web services have entered all spheres of life motivated the authors to investigate how this new collaborative media influences modern information society. The paper discusses the results obtained by comparative analysis of different collaborative media. Interactivity was considered as one of the most important criteria for choosing between the many different inter¬ active web services. The authors analyzed the main characteristics of the cho¬ sen services, classified them into groups and compared them within those groups. The paper stresses the importance of today’ s most popular services, varying from search engines, all kinds of online communities, different types of leisure services to e-learning services, on the behavior and expectations of all participants in the global Internet-based communication. Search engines were analyzed according to ranking and credibility while Web community services were analyzed according to many of their interactive and communication pos¬ sibilities. The category of leisure services ranged from those services created for leisure time to those created for other purposes but used as leisure ser¬ vices. Also, the interactive services of the largest Croatian e-learning solution, implemented at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Univer¬ sity of Zagreb, were analyzed. The positive and negative sides of each of the analyzed groups of interactive web services were compared and synthesized, and their effects on media de¬ velopment and the society in general were analyzed. In the paper, the authors tried to emphasize the great social aspect of the Internet today and the services it provides. They showed how society has a great influence on the growth of the Internet, but also how the Internet has an even greater effect on the rela¬ tionships and activities within society. Thus, this paper does not only give an overview of the comparative analysis of interactive web services but also shows the mutual influence of the collaborative media and human creativity on the development of the information society. (IN CROATIAN: Cinjenica da interaktivni mrežni servisi prožimaju sva podrucja danasnjeg života potaknula je autore da analiziraju kolaborativne medije i njihov utjecaj na moderno informacijsko drustvo. U radu su prikazani rezultati dobiveni metodom usporedne analize kolaborativnih medija. Interaktivnost je pritom smatrana jednim od najvažnijih kriterija za odabir mrežnih servisa koji ce biti ukljuceni u istraživanje. Autori su analizirali glavne karakteristike odabranih servisa, klasificirali ih u skupine te ih unutar njih usporedili. Posebno je uzeta u obzir važnost utjecaja najpoznatijih internetskih servisa danasnjice, pocevsi od pretraživaca, raznih vrsta online zajednica, zatim servisa namijenjenih zabavi, do servisa specijaliziranih za izobrazbu u elektronickoj okolini, na ponasanje i ocekivanja svih sudionika u globalnoj komunikaciji utemeljenoj na internetskoj tehnologiji. Pretraživaci su analizirani prema rangiranju i vjerodostojnosti ponuđenih rezultata. S druge strane, online zajednice analizirane su prema raznim ponuđenim mogucnostima interakcije i komunikacije. Kategorija “zabavnih” servisa obrađena je u dva oblika – jednom, u kojem su bili servisi za zabavu, te drugom, u kojem su se nasli servisi koji nisu namijenjeni zabavi, ali se za nju koriste. Naposljetku su analizirani interaktivni servisi najvece hrvatske implementacije sustava za e-ucenje – one na Filozofskom fakultetu Sveucilista u Zagrebu. Autori su usporedili i sintetizirali pozitivne i negativne strane analiziranih interaktivnih servisa unutar svake skupine, a zatim su analizirali njihov utjecaj na razvoj medija i drustva opcenito. Autori su istraživanjem pokusali istaknuti danasnji velik utjecaj interneta i njegovih servisa na drustvo. Pritom su pokazali kako drustvo snažno utjece na rast interneta, ali internet ima jos veci utjecaj na odnose i aktivnosti u drustvu. Stoga ovaj clanak ne prikazuje samo rezultate usporedne analize interaktivnih mrežnih servisa nego također međusobni utjecaj kolaborativnih medija i ljudske kreativnosti na razvoj informacijskog drustva.)