Future Web Trends

# internet connectivityDirt cheap, lightening fast & “always on” internetComputers light, dumb terminals: need net connection to

workMost applications web-based for best efficiency

IMG SRC: Flickr

# all digital devices will be connected & networked

From your car, radio, phone, fridge... “always on”An unconnected digital device will be a strange thingWiMax connected sunglasses with voice prompted HUD?(A head-up display, or HUD, is any transparent display that

presents data without obstructing the user's view).

# rise of the mobile internetRapid improvements in connectivity & screensMobile to be dominant platform for connecting to net worldwideJapan: happened already (mostly surf web through phones)Voice calls powered by internet & SMS/Texts -> IM Cellphones electronic wallets & banks = main method of

paymentCitizens vote for first time in elections via mobile phones?

# rise of individual & entrepreneurOpen source = unprecedented access to code & applicationsCheap to create business online & make own mediaTeenager in basement same opp. as worker in big companyEXAMPLE: New mobile operating system (Android)?

# strides against digital divideDeveloping world joins digital ecosystem via mobile phonesAlso become part of economy via cellphone walletMobile phones cheap & broadband ubiquitousIlliteracy issues overcome by video & audio streamsCreates new areas of collaboration and education

# almost no privacy on the webYour data will be out thereIt will be ok because everyone will be in the same boatSeeing already with soc. networking services like FB

# the rise of the virtual universeVirtual worlds like Second life go mainstreamCome to fore as graphic cards & broadband improvePotentially a visual alternative to the world wide webStandards: different worlds connect to each other seamlesslyVirtual coup d’etat by SL citizens?Linden Labs cedes SL to democratically elected virtual govt

# information pollution & overloadNext big challenge is how to manage masses of informationPeople will complain about "digital fatigue“ & digital noiseFocus on developing filters & aggregators“Switch-off" holidays regularly prescribed by your doctorRise of anti-digital movements urging “get back to basics”In response to clutter, a second world wide web announced

# more googles & facebooksGoogle & Facebook finally get good competitionMicrosoft releases OS code and goes open sourceMS makes revenue by selling advertising & giving supportAdvertising is main bus. model (connecting sellers & buyers)Facebook becomes a virtual OS/desktop, with MS influence

# media distribution & productionAll media eventually delivered via internet Hardly any specialist print, tv, radio media companies leftAll fully converged, broadcasting & publishing via the netMedia on many digital platforms

MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA

# now everyone is a media player

Barrier to entry drops even more dramaticallyRise of the reader and the consumer Readers: publishers, broadcasters: competitors &

collaboratorsSmall, converged media challenge media conglomerates

MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA

#

IMG SRC: WANN

#...other developments

# other trends fornow & the futureSemantic web entrenchedArtificial intelligenceAttention economy in full swingSophisticated personalisation of contentLocation-based/mapping services common & mobileVirtualisation eg: Amazon’s EC2 & S3 servicesWeb 14.0???... ;-)

SRC: Read Write/Web, Jaxon Rice, My blog

#Forget capitalism and the class struggle... the digital revolution is

changing things far more dramatically than the hypemongers ever

imagined... the move from a society dominated by print and broadcast

mass media to the age of interactivity is at least as dramatic as the move

from feudalism to capitalism.

Netocracy, by Jan Söderqvist and Alexander Bard (2001)

IMG SRC: Flickr