The Internet is constantly changing and adapting to the people who use it. Newer technologies are allowing the Web to not only be present on a computer, but taking it and putting it on phones, iPods, and even airplanes. The article "Web Squared" talks about much of the advancement of the Internet from the 1990's to present day and how it is being implemented into our daily activities. In terms of my professional future, it is still very up in the air. However, one of the most important ideas that I took from the article was how the Internet is continuously being integrated into tools we use frequently on a daily basis, specifically the Redefining Collective Intelligence: New Sensory Input section of the article. This section describes the concept of collective intelligence and how it is one of the major "next step" periods for the Internet. The most current example is the Google Mobile App for the iPhone. It takes words that you speak into the phone and uses the Google search engine to look up whatever you are saying. Google, coupled with the iPhone's GPS, can shoot back information using your location as well. For example, if I needed a haircut, I would simply say "Super Cuts" into the phone and it would provide the nearest Super Cuts salon and their phone number.
My favorite web application as of now would have to be Netflix Instant Queue. It allows me to stream almost any movie or television show for a really low monthly fee. What makes it so useful, is that I can attach my laptop to my T.V. and have a wide assortment of things to view. Netflix first made it's convenience known when they introduced the concept of having movies or shows delivered to your house. Now that they have Instant Queue, they have made it even easier to view films without even having to go to your mailbox.
The new sensory input is definitely a new step in technology, and more specifically, cell phones. I have an android and it can do the voice recognition stuff too but sometimes it takes a little while to work, and sometimes it doesn't always match up perfectly with what I say. But I'm sure in the near future computers, TVs, probably even cars will all have voice recognition in them, and then what we watch, where we go, what we look at on the web, basically everything we do will just always be data mined.
ReplyDeleteNetflix instant que is also one of my favorite apps. I think that in the near future Televisions are not going to be as common, due to movie and tv shows being instant. Why pay for cable and be inundate with annoying commercial, when you can just switch on your favorite movie or show.
ReplyDeleteI have begun to notice that Google seems to rule our daily lives. They certainly keep an edge above their competitors by making their apps easy to use and they can be used pretty much on any mobile device (Apple is the exception sometimes)
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in the collective intelligence aspect of, say, photo sharing... You take a picture of a building and say "where I work" and upload that to facebook or flickr. Image processing reads the name off of the building, image cues from street signs also in frame and nearby buildings mapped from other people's photos from the area (using tech like PhotoSynth) to stitch together a full view of the area you're in (also using your phone/camera's location features) and before long you've got a more information-rich version of Google street view - your Facebook or phone might tell you that a friend of yours works nearby and goes to lunch around the same time (with a picture of their favorite restaurant and a link to their wall).
ReplyDeleteThat all sounds pretty creepy, but imagine the first generation of kids who grow up with this sort of information transparency omnipresent - will they embrace this sort of convenience at the cost of huge corporations essentially stalking them?
If your friend gets their hair cut at one place (and their phone's calendar is synced with the "cloud") and you comment that you love their haircut, would a targeted ad from the people who cut their hair be creepy, useful, or both?
It is difficult not to repeat past comments on this or the other blogs, but I too am very interested in the idea behind Information Shadows. Objects are now more than just their physical selves, they have presence in the digital world. While humans have done this for years, we are slowly cataloging everything we can see or hear. While there may be hardware challenges, why not catalog touches? tastes? how about smell? I can probably pass on the smell one, but still, I doubt we will stop with just pictures and sound.
ReplyDeleteThe possibility of having my phone tell me which business is closer when I'm looking for a store would be incredibly helpful; I tend to get lost a bit too easily for my taste. Tom's response adds a lot to this idea of sharing information, knowing where a friend works and when they have lunch, to me personally it seems a bit too much, just because someone has the same breaks as you does not mean they want to spend that time with you, but I have to admit that future generations may just embrace such a concept.
ReplyDeleteIn the same way, will future generations prefer to step away from all this technology that is slowly being found everywhere?
Technically, the Netflix instant queue was implemented in 2007. However it has only recently become so prominent because of its integration into video game consoles and mobile devices.
ReplyDeleteDecent post. It seems Tom did my work for me here (thanks!) with the great question: "That all sounds pretty creepy, but imagine the first generation of kids who grow up with this sort of information transparency omnipresent - will they embrace this sort of convenience at the cost of huge corporations essentially stalking them?"
ReplyDeleteI have friends (in their late 30s/early 40s) who still won't get cellphones because they think they're creepy. Mostly they're unnerved by instant access and the gps tracking. I think they're kind of crazy, but I see their point. This next generation of kids, yikes, who knows what they'll find acceptable in terms of data tracking.
Whoooo boy the Netflix Instant feature sure is nice. Since I got it I've burned away countless hours watching silly shows that don't do anything for me. What I think is significant about it is that it is indicative of a big trend we have in our society to digitize all of our media.
ReplyDeleteThis is pretty much cool and benevolent in every way; it's like Weinberger's main point. But what about the instability of data? What if everything is digitized and a meteor falls on the server that holds it all? Uh-oh. I probably worry too much about it.