Web 2.0 is… YOU!
October 26, 2007
The old saying – “the world doesn’t revolve around you” could not have been more wrong! The introduction of web 2.0 is not just a catch word to phase out the “old” internet (or what people believe is Web 1.0) but is the wave that we are riding. It is something that is going to change the way we think and the way we interact with the world. This is going to be such a gradual progress that we won’t even notice it. In just twenty years, it is said that we will not be sharing our views with our neighbors but with the world. It is the notion that, what I say will help out the next person who is sitting down at the other end of the world. How is this possible? How can I help out someone who I don’t even know? Why would I even want to help out someone I don’t even know?! Who says I’m going to do it?! The answer to all these questions is “WEB 2.0!” If I can take you 20 years from today to show you how this “web 2.0” worked you would be amazed. What you would experience is you getting information about what is relevant to you. What you are interested in and only the things you really care about. The idea of personalizing the web is what really excites me about web 2.0.
How would one personalize the web? It’s already happened without us knowing. When I log on to my g-mail account to write an e-mail, I start off saying something to my friend like – “Hey John, you want to go grab something to eat? Maybe some Chinese?” Just as I write this, what pops up to the right of my screen? [i]An ad asking me if I was hungry. An ad asking me to eat at Mr. Chao’s. An ad wanting me to click on it for a free meal. Google’s e-mail algorithm has enabled the advertisers to directly contact us. This is just the start. What I really want to talk about is p2p (peer-to-peer) file sharing and how it’s going to revolutionize the internet. File sharing is exactly what it means, files being shared from one computer to another. This is great because we can get files that we want and give the files that we have. The old saying – “give some, get some” holds true in this case. This is how it works, let’s say my friend John has a file that I really want, but that file is really large but is a very popular file (for fun, let’s say its windows vista, the beta version of course! ;p). So I want “windows Vista” and I want it really fast! How do it and do it in a way that doesn’t that doesn’t depend only on John’s slow upload rate? Well, this is where the magic happens. What if there was a way that I could get a small chunk of the big picture from many different people. That is to say, what if I got only 5% of the file from John and 5% from someone else and another 5% from someone else and so forth? This is definitely possible and this is what makes P2P so great. Note: there are ways to NOT share that file but most people do share it because it doesn’t affect them in any way because they are only giving me a small chuck of the bigger picture.
This doesn’t always have to be a bad thing, of course you are exposed to the world, but the people who really care about looking you up are going to be your friends. What I am saying is, I am yet to meet a person from China who is interested in knowing what I did with my life today. And let’s say I tell him/her every detail on my blog. Why in the world would they care? I am arguing that they wouldn’t and therefore it is totally acceptable to be exposed to the world. There are companies like Amazon that uses this for their advantage. I found out that people who use Amazon are not only helping themselves [ii]but are helping other customers. The whole market share for Amazon is run by its consumers. There is no way any company would give up this offer. There is a famous quote which says “architecture is politics” and in this day and age, this cannot be proven wrong. The same can be said about Wikipedia and it’s open source encyclopedia.
The hardships of such a great idea are still there. There are many ways that people can “cheat” the system. For example, let’s say Jane, my evil cousin, doesn’t want me to get far in life and wanted to delete all my hard work that is stored on my computer. [iii]Even though this is hard to do, people can do it. This means that you are totally exposed to the world and in every way possible. Your ideas, your beliefs, along with files can be accessed from an anonymous user who you have no relation with. Scary but true. The true potential of the internet is released, whether good or bad.
Just last week we were talking about RSS and how quick we could get the news. Web 2.0 will make you the author, publisher and the subscriber because you will be so hooked on what other people will have to say about your work. What’s even more interesting is that RSS definitely helps individuals access the internet in ways that are unimaginable today. This means that people don’t need a browser to go on the internet. All their news will pop up on the right hand side toolbar with the latest news that you are interested in (you already know this if you have windows vista or Google desktop). This way of thinking is making the web come to you and not you going on to the web. The next phrase that’s going to capsize the software industry is – “don’t surf the web; let the web surf for you!” Let me explain how this hurts software people. It affects them because people will not need “Netscape” or “internet explorer” because they will already be on the web that will bring the internet to you. Everything today is going to be on the web sometime or the other. I mean everything! Including operating systems! Google has already realized this and publicized their “Google documents” which is the online version of “Microsoft word.”
This could be bad going to worse, because if things need to be directed to you, then things have to be a little more personal (but don’t be scared of being exposed!) because if my friend John wants to sell you some party accessories for your party then you could use his help. But on the other hand, if my evil cousin Jane wants to get your money by just duping you into giving you “free” party accessories then you are at loss. There will be one thing more important than any search algorithm and that is data. The only way that people can really access you is from what you write, who you write to, what you do for a living, were you work and who you associate with. I know scary, scary, and scarier. But think about the possibilities. Whenever you want to go for some Chinese, you don’t even have to look, it’s right there in front of you. Any time you want to call your friend, you don’t have to move from your seat, you can call him/her from the web. With the internet coming to “life” there are many things that could go wrong, but there are also many things that could go right and help you live your life more efficiently.
I think this picture shows a lot of what is happening today:
What you are seeing is — me, being at the center of the world, and everyone else revolving around me!
[i] McLane, Shwratz, Gmail sneak peek, 2007, Google, http://mail.google.com/mail/help/screen2.html, 10/23/2007
[ii] Wolf, Gary, The great library of Amazonia, 10/23/03, WIRED, http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2003/10/60948, 10/23/07
[iii] O’Rielly, Tim, What is Web 2.0, 09/30/2005, O’Reilly, http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html?page=1, 10/23/2007
[iv] My p2p application – Azureus Vuze
