The Web from Gore to Obama: science and

fiction

Michalis Vafopoulos04/04/2013

Who’s talking?

…The summit recognized the role of the Internet as a unique tool for promoting democracy and fostering economic growth.

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The leaders!

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http://www.european-council.europa.eu/home-page/highlights/g8-support-for-the-arab-spring.aspx?lang=en

The Web space is:

o Everywhere o Controversialo Contradictory o Unusual o Complex o Dynamic

contents

① The Web today② Digital cosmogony ③ The Web invention④ Technology ⑤ The Web ecosystem ⑥ Web science⑦ New values⑧ The future of the Web

We knew the Web was big...

• >1 trillion unique URIs (deep web?)

• >2,5 billion users (+ mobile)

• Google: 300 million searches/day• 72% of users >=1 social network

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Source blog.usaseopros.com/2009/04/15/google-searches-per-day-reaches-293-million-in-march-2009/

the new continent

Per minute:

• 204 million emails• Facebook: 2 million

photos& 2 million profile views • Youtube: 1 million views• 47.000 apps are

downloaded

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…also in economy

• UK: Online advertising >television expenditure for the first time [4 billion Euros/year] (30/9/2009, BBC)

• US: spending on digital marketing overtook that of print for the first time in 2010

• Amazon.com: 50 million daily visitors– 60 billion dollars market capitalization– 24.000 employees

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Digital Cosmogony: dot-com bubble 2000

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Web 2.0 explosions of bits

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contents

① The Web today② Digital cosmogony ③ The Web invention④ Technology ⑤ The Web ecosystem ⑥ Web science⑦ New values⑧ The future of the Web

The Web invention

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I. Personal story– CERN, Dertouzos, Metakides

II. Global environment– Gore, Delors

III. Historical moment– Knowledge overload

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• Internet ≠ Web• Internet = infrastructure• Web

–HTML–HTTP–URI

The technology

Why is so successful?

Is based on architecture (HTTP, URI, HTML) which is:

• simple • networked • based on open standards • extensible • tolerant

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Why is so successful?

• universal (regardless hardware platform (iphone applications??), software platform, application software, network access, public, group, or personal scope, language and culture operating system and ability)

• free or cheap • fun • powerful

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Underlying ideas

• Overcome deterministic software connections (“waterfall” model)

• Mimics the brain with “random” connections

• From ASCII to hypertext• Resolve (some) natural language

ambiguities (i.e. URI)• The biggest human system with no

central authority and control17

contents

① The Web today② Digital cosmogony ③ The Web invention④ Technology ⑤ The Web ecosystem ⑥ Web science⑦ New values⑧ The future of the Web

the new ecosystem

An Internet applicationWeb=Hypertext+(HTML,URI, HTTP)+Internet

An information space

Web+users

The new ecosystemimportant effects in everyday lifeCreates & is created by the reality

Innovations in human life

• The surf/edit experience• Low cost of communication• No central authority• Production outside the traditional

market with no direct price, authority, corporate governance

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the new ecosystem

What is changing?• New issues: personal and global agenda• Prosumers: Self-powered production• Inter-creativity: Distributed collaborative

production

• Non market & non property production

What is needed?• New analysis• New governance • New values

new issues

• Network oligopolies– Top 10 websites in USA: 31%(2001)-75% visits

(2010)– Google/Facebook under anti-trust investigation– App economy & mobile ecosystem (see Firefox

OS)

• Web-based development– W3F action in Africa- India– Open Linked Data

new issues

• Understanding & usage of the Web– In business– In everyday life

New analysis: Web science

before WWW after 

3/18

New analysis: Web science

• a trans-disciplinary field –Web as its primary object of study–Web= techno-social artifact

• positive or negative?Transformative!

3/18

Web science

• envelope question

what technological and other changes need to be made in order for the Web to work better for more people?

3/18

Two magics of Web Science

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Web & Philosophy

Email

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Web: the idea

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Web

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Google

Wiki

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Blog

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Semantic Web

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Linked Data

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Ideas for projects

• Add content – more examples• Explain more• Describe with ontology• Annotate existing papers• ? <yours> ?

3/18

Websci09 Athens: the journey begins

New Web governance

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• Advance the Web

• Connect Humanity

• Empower People

the new values

• New content/context in classic human values (e.g. anonymity, private space)

• Open {standards, data, cloud, source, access, minds}

• Privacy vs. accountability• Transparency• Net neutrality

The future of the Web

from Al Gore – ’90s (internet highways)

to Barack Obama –’10s (linked data)

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other technologies

• HTML5• Semantic Web • IPv6, Future internet, Internet of

things

The Web is…

Unique opportunity to create collaboratively (not only experts) and

If we do not take it now, may not be there for a long time

The new utopia…

It is not just information that must be free, but the knowledge of how to use it.

M. Wark, the manifesto of a hacker (MIT Press)

The new utopia…

The test of a free society is not the liberty to consume information, nor to produce it, nor even to implement its potential in private world of one's choosing.

M. Wark, the manifesto of a hacker (MIT Press)

The new utopia…

The test of a free society is the liberty for the collective transformation of the world through abstractions freely chosen and freely actualized.

M. Wark, the manifesto of a hacker (MIT Press)

two points of view

Economy, business and action..

Philosophy, ethics and thinking…

Thank you for this sort journey!

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Sources

• http://www.w3.org/2007/Talks/0509-www-keynote-tbl/#(1)

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