The web is
something that many of us take for granted now. We don’t even think twice about
popping open a browser page and reading about the latest news, weather,
sports, fitness, parenting, or whatever our passion. If you can think of it -
chances are good that you can find it on the web. In fact, I’d be curious as to
what there might be anymore that you can’t find on the web.
I have
always been fascinated by the web. I remember the stars in my eyes the first
time I was able to search on something and find information about that topic
from people and sources I’d never even heard of before. It was amazing! And for
me, it still is.
That’s why
I found the current issue of ON
Magazine to be fascinating! You see, the entire issue is focused on the web
and its 20th birthday! Many of us, in
fact, here at EMC have found this issue to be one that resonates deeply with
us. Our Blogging Corps has each
been taking a turn in sharing our own thoughts on the questions posed by ON
Magazine. I was tagged by fellow blogger and EMCer David
Spencer, so here are my thoughts…
How has the web changed my life?
I can’t
even begin to list all of the ways that the web has changed my life. I’m on the
web every single day. It’s hard to imagine a day without it, to be honest. Does that qualify as an addiction?
The first
obvious thing that comes to mind is the fact that I have chosen a career
focused on the web. Every single day I use the web to communicate with others,
both inside and outside of EMC, about what I’m working on. Part of my
responsibility is to be on the social web, to understand it, and to teach
others how to use it while also developing best practices, use cases, and
guidelines for participation that help people to understand how to use it to
represent EMC well.
The second
thing that comes to mind is the ease with which I can access information. As a Stargate SG-1 fan,
I like Chris Brogan’s analogy of
“gate jumping” in this issue. The web allows me to jump around and view what
I’m interested in, for as long as I’m interested in it and then move along and
check out the next thing. As I said before – you can search on and find
information on just about anything you can possibly think of. I don’t have
phone books in my house any longer because I look everything up on the web. I
watch news, TV shows, and movies on the web. I have even sold some (not all
because some books I still love to hold in my hands while reading them) of my
books that are available on the web. Every one of my research papers for my MBA
had more web resources sited that physical books and periodicals. I even turned
in my papers for my degree online.
I’m trying
to find a facet of my life that the web doesn’t touch these days…We planned our
wedding in
How has the web changed business and
society?
In addition
to all of the above examples of information accessibility which have certainly
impacted business and society in general, there are businesses around now that
are strictly online. They don’t even have a physical office that people go in
to every day – business is conducted remotely via email, web meetings, phone
calls, and even telepresence. Tools like Skype
allow me to view and chat with anyone in the world with an internet connection
and an account for free, which is still an amazing concept to me.
The web,
and particularly the social
web, has enabled businesses to connect with companies and individuals like
never before. The possibilities for sharing and gathering information are
immeasurable. Listening in the social web enables us to be that “fly on the
wall” we’ve all wished we could be at one time or another when looking for
feedback on our companies and products. The social web enables us to send
messages far and wide for very little investment (generally only someone’s
time) in such a viral nature that we’ve still not fully harnessed how far our
reach is with such social platforms.
The web has
connected the world and made it much flatter and enabled worldwide
collaboration in ways that we might never have imagined 20 years ago. I can
talk to anyone, anywhere, at any time, many of whom I’d have never had an
opportunity to meet, had it not been for the web.
What do I think the web will look
like in twenty years?
It’s hard
to say for sure…but I think buzz words like social media, Web 2.0, Web 3.0,
social web will be long gone. There will be no need to define it that way
because it will already be that way, and will have been for a long time…
Kids coming
of age now have already always had the web all of their lives. They think it’s
the norm. Imagine how it will be in another 20 years – the children coming of
age in 20 years will have always had the social web and conversations and
interactions that are still new to many.
I think too
that the notion of websites will likely go away – content will be served up
more based on individual user preferences. It will be like an uber personal
landing page experience or something like that.
The web as
we know it today will likely be unrecognizable in twenty years, it will have
evolved and changed so much. But, imagine the possibilities….Just too cool! I
can’t wait!
I've tagged Christine Christopherson to carry on the topic.
So, what about you - What do you think the web will look like in twenty years?
Kathrin Winkler - The Web and the World
Len Devanna - Celebrating 20 Years of Web
Natalie Corridan-Gregg - Internet is 20 years old. Ah, to be twenty years old again!