In conclusion WEB 101 Topic 3.3 Laura's notes

Web 101: Communication and Collaboration Online

Laura’s notes

Topic 3.3 – Future Trends

Introduction:

By now, you will have a good background on the evolution of communication and participation over the Internet. Yet, as you have seen, changes occur very quickly in this realm - the idea of Web 2.0 was only really articulated in 2004. This week, as you conclude your studies and finalise your web presence assignment, we will look at some possibilities for the future of the web and how they might impact (influence) the way we use, communicate through and perceive it. (Curtin, 2010)

Instructions:

Follow through the information on this page, stopping to view any videos and performing the activities and readings as you get to them.

Web 3.0 – The Semantic Web

Throughout this unit, you have seen how quickly the Web has grown and evolved, from a series of static linked pages to a platform for a variety of applications and services. Yet the Web has a very significant limitation - it needs people to make sense of it. For example, if I want to find out the best value for money refrigerator that I can have delivered to my home in the next seven days I will first need to do some independent research on the kind of refrigerator I want. Then I will need to perform a search of refrigerator shops in my area, browse through them, make notes (mental or otherwise) of their prices and estimated delivery times, and then make a decision based upon my research. All of this I can accomplish from the comfort of my desk at home, because all of this information is stored on the Web, mostly as text. As a person, I can read this text and make sense of it. But what if a computer could 'read' and understand all of this content? This is the idea behind the semantic web. (Curtin, Tama Lever, 2010)

Laura: I watched an interesting YouTube video titled “Intro to the Semantic Web”. An interesting vision of what the Semantic Web “could” become and an explanation that I thought quite interesting. YouTube embedded video Url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGg8A2zfWKg&feature=player_embedded

I also came across another video about Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and the progression to Web 3.0 on YouTube url: Evolution Web 1.0, Web 2.0 to Web 3.0  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsNcjya56v8&feature=related that I thought was also interesting an related to what we have been reviewing.

Reading - The Semantic Web

Berners-Lee, T., Hendler, J. & Lassila, O. (2001), 'The Semantic Web' Scientific American Magazine, May 2001, Vol. 284 Issue 5, p34.

Extract from reading:

THE SEMANTIC WEB

A new form of Web content that is meaningful to computers will unleash a revolution of new

Possibilities

The entertainment system was belting out the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out" when the phone rang. When Pete answered, his phone turned the sound down by sending a message to all the other local devices that had a volume control. His sister, Lucy, was on the line from the doctor's office: "Mom needs to see a specialist and then has to have a series of physical therapy sessions. Biweekly or something. I'm going to have my agent set up the appointments." Pete immediately agreed to share the chauffeuring. At the doctor's office, Lucy instructed her Semantic Web agent through her handheld Web browser. The agent promptly retrieved information about Mom's prescribed treatment from the doctor's agent, looked up several lists of providers, and checked for the ones in-plan for Mom's insurance within a 20-mile radius of her home and with a rating of excellent or very good on trusted rating services. It then began trying to find a match between available appointment times (supplied by the agents of individual providers through their Web sites) and Pete's and Lucy's busy schedules. (The emphasized keywords indicate terms whose semantics, or meaning, were defined for the agent through the Semantic Web.) ...

The Mobile Web

Although web-enabled mobile devices and wireless connections have been commonplace for quite a while now, Apple's iPhone has thrust the idea of a truly mobile Internet into the public consciousness. Described as "the seventh mass media" (Ahonen, 2008), mobile devices have become ubiquitous in our society with some estimates putting the number of people who carry mobiles at 30% of the population. The combination of this mobility with 'smart phones' that can increasingly serve rich web content is bringing about a shift in our understandings of the degree to which the Internet can reach into our everyday lives.

The principal shift that mobile devices are bringing to the Web experience is that of localised content through location-aware GPS functions. With the added context of location, web-based applications are able to offer an augmentation of the real world by providing information that shifts as we do. More importantly perhaps, the collaborative culture of Web 2.0 and beyond can be further enhanced by this kind of location awareness. We have already seen the beginnings of this in geo-tagging, but the area is still relatively under-explored.
While the most obvious application of the mobile web is that embedded in devices that we carry with us, wireless technologies can theoretically be utilised to connect any electronic device to the Internet. The promise of smart appliances has been with us for quite a while (Who doesn't dream of owning an Internet-enabled Fridge?!), but with the growing availability of wireless access, we can expect to see growing inter-connectivity between (and access to) appliances. (Curtin, Tama Lever, 2010)

Laura: I thought this was an interesting angle and explanation concerning the mobility of the internet today. Although I cannot see carrying a fridge in my pocket as something of a revolutionary aspect, maybe a back breaking one...(joke) I find this future footstep interesting and I look forward to some sort of interactive bracelet that gives a holographic projection of the semantic web i.e. point and use!

In conclusion to this week AND the unit I watched all the videos:

Kevin Kelly, Web and Where: Web 3.0 (... the web that we have at the moment is less than 5000 days old ...T.V but better ...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J132shgIiuY&feature=player_embedded

Google Wave Overview: While Google's Wave was hailed as the next great thing in late 2009, it has taken a considerable time to become popular. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pgxLaDdQw&feature=player_embedded

Laura: I joined Googlewave, https://wave.google.com/wave/  it’s an interesting concept but you do need to have more than one person using it. I delegate this type of functionary tool as one that is best used as a communal one. For those that are using Internet Explorer it is necessary to download the Chrome Shell but be aware it might interfere with your web face and cause the browser to crash intermittently. It’s a tool best utilised with either Firefox or Safari (and yes, you do not have to be using an Apple/Mac computer to be able to use Safari as the browser integrates quite well across all platforms. I have found that both Fire fox and Safari are actually better and have greater stability than Internet Explorer. Keep in mind this is MY person view and opinion)

Activity:  Food for thought.....

This final week has given some ideas about future directions the web might take. Think about how your experience of life online might be different in five years time. What will Google (and its competitors) have to say about you at that time? WHAT DO YOU! THINK?

Internet Studies (Net 102) Assignment 4 Essay 2

Internet Studies 102 (Net 102) Assignment 4: Essay 2

 Curtin University Grade: 75%
Laura Herbert


Essay Question: Critically evaluate this statement: the Internet offers a space where people may resist oppression on a daily basis; it overturns traditional structures of power and control.

Technological Freedom

There are technological advances of the Internet compared to the printed book page that have the ability to democratize information by simplifying the creation, skill, knowledge, duplication, storage and fluidity of distribution of data. By utilising applications, networking through computers can facilitate communication amongst a broader spectrum of individuals. People from remote locations are able to associate with one other by creating user accounts specifically to engage in varieties of social networking, fighting the suppression of human rights, the invocation of freedom and political practices, and more generally to make their utopian visions of opinions matter by having their voices heard on a unified global platform. This essay will argue technology's usage to enhance people's options for greater communication in an online environment and to discuss the capacity of online community's ability to overturn the traditional structures of power and control allowing people to resist oppression by utilising the Internet's ubiquitous ability for freedom of social expression.
 Literacy has been an important developmental mile stone in human history, it represented a time that saw the emergence of abstract thought and linear forms of thinking and expression as well as a change of perception of space and time. (Harris, 2003. Hongladarom, 2002) When Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15^th century information began to distribute to a greater number of people in more diverse places at a cheaper cost than that of hand written Latin language manuscripts deleteriously produced by monks. Although machine printed books of that era kept in large libraries were accessible to the masses, only the elite, powerful, educated and religious educators could afford to access the books, keeping power and control of information distribution in the hands of the minority and not the majority.(Solove, 2007)

Don Slater in his paper Social Relationships and Identity Online and Offline makes an interesting observation concerning peoples adaptation of information "…past media have also seemed to constitute new forms and spaces of sociality, even virtuality's, they have quickly been absorbed into every day practices as utilities …" (cited McLuhan 1974,Standage 1999 by Slater, 2002). Although before the ubiquitous application of the internet in the later part of the 20^th Century, choices of mass media consumption were limited in the form of the printed newspaper, radio and television. These facilities greatly accelerated the dissemination of information albeit in a mostly singular direction lending significant power to the hands of a small but significant group of editors and producers of printing, recording and broadcasting technology. Communication by individuals meeting and talking and the use of the telephone contained groups to a specific social environment until the widened public use of the Internet. The commonality of use of the Internet changed the dynamic nature of information sharing and with this technological change came technological structure and a widening degree of personal and political freedom.danah boyd's article Facebook's Privacy Trainwreck, Exposure, Invasion, and Social Convergence, directs the reader to the idea that people require structure in the real world but not on line. "… Off line, people are accustomed to having architecturally defined boundaries ..." The idea of actual life defined boundaries does not physically apply to the context of the Internet. For religious, political and even suppressed ideals, the Internet has allowed for greater range of freedom and in doing so offers individuals and masses a widened information sharing capability with access to platforms such as social networking sites, political, religious and human rights web pages. These technological structures easily altered to fit a user's specific demographic and individual requirement of spatial usability. boyd concurs in her article "… The digital world has different properties and these can be easily altered through the development of new technologies …" (2008)
 The development of new technologies has widened people's ability for greater communication with each other, creating a divergence of concepts and culture. Shafti describes understanding information distribution as communal in Incoherent Thoughts "… As the reality of the information age becomes more certain, people are beginning to understand the vast expanse of new media …" As such users are interacting with each other socially and culturally in a greater capacity. People are connecting in interesting and new ways and for some the internet ingrained in such a way that communication and accessibility electronically are part of a daily routine that allows them freedom from constraints of the traditional structures of power and control. Community and identity as Shafti points out can be "… different people from different parts of the world establish a virtual community in cyber space. Here they share their ideas, opinions, belief, political perspectives, interests etc. …" (2005) This utopian vision and the opening of internet frontiers has enabled people to connect with others that they would not have otherwise have met in a real life setting. People create communities with common ground for different reasons, overriding a degree of possible oppressive social or political behaviour and giving the users greater acceptance within a specific on line peer structure.

Early theorists speculated that electronic communication would be inherently democratic, allowing equal access to data and knowledge, modern communication and transportation technologies have made the classical notion of world politics obsolete. The Internet has evolved from a communication conduit between scientists and engineers engaged in defence work to an information dissemination tool used to resist human rights abuses worldwide, it is the natural vocation of a conscious people to resist oppression. Territorial boundaries, however much bolstered by doctrines of sovereignty are no-longer impregnable; the Internet has made them porous. Increasingly easy access to e-mail and the World Wide Web allows many politically disenfranchised groups to communicate with like-minded or sympathetic audiences, publicising causes often overlooked by the mainstream media and offering perspectives frequently stifled by the conservative corporate ownership.There are a multitude of platforms that any number of disembodied users can and do utilise. "... social network sites (SNS) such as MySpace Facebook, Cyworld, and Bebo..." researched and described by boyd and Ellison (2007) concur with Shafti's previously discussed perspective of community and identity, "…there are hundreds of SNSs, with various technological affordances, supporting a wide range of interests and practices. While their key technological features are fairly consistent, the cultures that emerge around SNSs are varied. Most sites support the maintenance of pre-existing social networks, but others help strangers connect based on shared interests, political views, or activities. Some sites cater to diverse audiences, while others attract people based on common language or shared racial, sexual, religious, or nationality-based identities …" (boyd, Ellison, 2002)

Social network site Facebook has demonstrated the ability to create common ground for various causes whether they are fighting the suppression of human rights, the invocation of freedom and political practices, and more generally utopian or dystopian visions (Shafti, 2005) of private individuals. Within a couple of minutes, a person is able to generate and establish a particular 'interest wall' that displays a link to their cause's main web site which a member may visit if they wish. With this ease of access Facebook's utilities has been employed by a growing number of human rights groups. Consumers of the social networking site are able to demonstrate their allegiance by mouse clicking a 'like' button at the top of the wall page. "...Facebook, Human Rights Watch Non-profit 70,226 people like this. Facebook, Human Rights Campaign Non-profit 646,643 people like this. Facebook, Australian Human Rights Commission Government 3,096 people like this. Facebook, Human rights Page 30,100 people like this. Facebook, Universal Declaration of Human Rights Non-profit 25,191 people like this. Facebook, The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) Non-profit 2,713 people like this ..." (Facebook, November 15, 2010) No longer are people "...happily oblivious to this social network website ..." (White, 2008)

 

By demonstrating people's connection to each other on a social networking site (SNS) such as Facebook this paper has shown that strangers are able to connect on the Internet in a common cause and in doing so have created an online community of like minded individuals. In comparing technological advances before and after the Internet's inception, this essay has argued technology's usage to enhance people's options for greater communication in an online environment are able to usurp the traditional structures of power and control allowing people to resist oppression by utilising the Internet's ubiquitous ability to form communities that represent and allow freedom of social expression.

 Bibliography

 boyd, d. (2008) Facebook's Privacy Trainwreck. Exposure, Invasion, and Social Convergence. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. (pp.14) Retrieved November 14, 2010 Curtin University of Technology
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
http://www.danah.org/papers/FacebookPrivacyTrainwreck.pdf

 boyd, d. m. , & Ellison, N. B (2007) Social Network sites; Definition, History and Scholarship. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication 13(1) article 11 Retrieved November 14, 2010 from

 Eisenstein, E. (1982) The Printing Press as an Agent of Change. European History after 1450. Cambridge University Press. (pp. 1-20 Inc. preface). Reviewed November 14^th 2010.

 Facebook Human rights heading Search,
http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=human+rights&init=quick&tas=0.07180594468679424 Retrieved from Facebook November 15, 2010

 Facebook, Human Rights Watch http://www.facebook.com/HumanRightsWatch?v=wall / http://www.hrw.org/ Retrieved from Facebook. November 15, 2010.

Harris, Laurel. (2003) Time, space. In Theories of Media (University of Chicago) Archived by Webcite. Retrieved November 14, 2010 Curtin University of Technology
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/dsolove/Future-of-Reputation/text/futureofreputation-ch2.pdfhttp://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/timespace.htm



Hongladarom, Soraj. 2002. "The Web of Time and the Dilemma of Globalization," The Information Society 18(4), (pp. 241 – 249, pp. 242). Retrieved November 14, 2010 from, Curtin University of Technology Library E-Reserve


Shafi, "Can a Virtual Community be any different from the experience of a Real Community?" Incoherent Thoughts, December 13, 2005. Archived by Web cite. Curtin University of Technology Retrieved November 14, 2010
 http://shafisaid.wordpress.com/2005/12/13/can-a-virtual-community-be-any-different-from-the-experience-of-a-real-community/


Slater, Don. (2002). Social Relationships and Identity Online and Offline. In Leah A. Lievrouw & Sonia M. Livingstone (Eds.), Handbook of New Media (pp. 533-546). Cited in paper: McLuhan, M (1974) Standage, T (1999) Retrieved November 14, 2010 from, Curtin University of Technology Library E-Reserve.


Solove, D., (2007). How the Free Flow of Information Liberates and Constrains Us, in The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor and Privacy on the Internet. (pp. 18) Retrieved November 14, 2010


The National Archives, Human Rights Archive
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/humanrights/ Reviewed November 15, 2010.

Please do not plagiarise my work. I am quite happy however for you to quote or cite my assignment. This assignment submitted to Curtin University of Technology for grading.

White, M M., “Facebook Suicide ,"Adbusters, June 4, 2008. Archived by WebCite Curtin University of Technology. Retrieved November 15, 2010