Topic 3.3 - Future Trends

Future Trends


Web 3.0 - the future

Wow, I cannot believe it, I came to the end of the Web 101 unit and what a way to finish it off - Web 3.0.

Firstly, I have enjoyed this unit so much, and I have learned a great deal! To be honest, I have never distinguished between Web and Net as two applications. Secondly, I have learned that when the Internet was first introduced by Tim Berners-Lee in the 1990s, this was only the beginning to a future of Web communication and collaboration. Data is escalated rapidly, everyday on the Web. 

Web 2.0 brought forth social networking applications. However, it seems, the cherry on the cake is Web 3.0. A Web that really know all our ins and outs? What we like, what we eat, what we wear, what our water and electricity meters are doing at home....really??? Kevin Kelly explained the concept so nicely, stating that even our shoes would have little computer chips in - everything will be monitored in future. The more information about us, the better it seems. In the future people will refer to the Web as the Semantic Web - a Web about us. Maybe we should change the Web 3.0 concept to 'We are the Web 3'.

To be honest, I cannot see us living without the Web. Information is part of us, actually everything we do is part of the Web and the Internet. So, let us rejoice all the new media and the future Semantic Web.

Topic 3.2 - Social Me(dia) Rivers

Rivers of social media?

I have never really heard of the term, Social Me(dia) River. However, after reading our course notes and listening to the lecture, I now realise that Twitter can be seen as a non-stop river of information.

We (the users) are like little boats in the  same river (sea), with just different little cargoes on our way to somewhere (well.. nowhere). I was also introduced to the term 'micro-blogging' - little pieces of information we share on twitter or other social networking sites.  

According to Java, et al. (2007) "Microblogging is a new form of communication in which users can describe their current status in short posts distributed by instant messages, mobile phones, email or the Web. Twitter, a popular microblogging tool has seen a lot of growth since it launched in October, 2006". 

Yet, we can bring all our little bits of information together on a site called Friendfeed. We can get all our social networking contributions in one place by subscribing to our own feeds. Friendsfeeds can be great if you want to have everything under one roof. You can inform your friends and family what is happening in your life by just providing one link to them, instead of all your online social networking links.

Reference

Java, A., et al (2007). Why we Twitter: Understanding Microblogging usage and communities. Procedings of the Joint 9th WEBKDD and 1st SNA-KDD Workshop 2007, August 12. Retrieved from http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/get/a/publication/369.pdf

Topic 3.1 - Your Digital Shadow

Digital Shadow....Where?



http://www.fotosearch.com/clip-art/shadows.html



Do you really know what is left behind of you in Cyberspace? Do you really care? All of a sudden these questions became very important to me. Because it is important to know what information about you can be retrieved by others (especially when you are not aware of it). In saying this, I think people would be surprised to learn what information can be traced without their knowledge. For example, the question was asked in our lecturer notes, 'Have you ever Googled yourself?' Why, I wonder? However, I tried it and was amazed at my findings.

You can also try to type your name in the following website BlindSearch to see what information is out there about yourself.

Another very interesting website, Spezify find all relevant information about you. You would also be surprised! This website upload images about you (if any) - traced on the Web. This might include images posted on Facebook and elsewhere. I must say, all these findings make you think twice about your web presence and what you post to the whole World Wide Web.