Optimistic Opinions about the Future of the World Wide Web
BBC recently interviewed ten of the leading figures of the WWW regarding their opinions about the future of the Web, in honour of the 15th anniversary of the invention of the Web. This post discusses the aspects of the interviews which referred to the Semantic Web, which when combined, contributed an interesting overview of the future of the Semantic Web.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee firstly pointed out a crucial detail concerning the objective of the BBC’s interviews – that it is incorrect to look back on fifteen years of the Web, and rather, that the last 15 years should be viewed as a starting point representing the infancy of the Web. His viewpoint implies high ambitions for the Web and the Semantic Web: he states that the current phase in the growth of the Web will be referred to in a 100 years as a time when all the world’s data was not even available instantly to a user, and the Semantic Web was not even functional. This insinuates that it is theoretically possible that in the next 100 years, these two visions will be completely fulfilled. He also makes an indirect reference to Web 2.0, stating that Web 2.0 is the conception of new systems of social behavior, peer review and regimes.
Nigel Shadbolt makes a similar observation, referring to Web 2.0, pointing out the conquering of the Web by users. He concludes that the future is the Semantic Web as an information broker for the user, assuming the role of document filtering, which was previously carried out by the user.
Professor Wendy Hall, Nigel Shadbolt’s colleague at the university of Southampton, does not make any reference to the Semantic Web, instead giving importance to only one essential characteristic – the Web will no longer be confined to traditional desktop computers, but will be accessible to all through mobile devices such as mobile phones.
Kai-Fu Lee from Google China similarly does not mention the Semantic Web, but refers to the concept of “Cloud Computing” as a challenge, also alluding to one factor which was broached in the previous blog post; the importance of user confidence in the uses of their private data online, and the fostering of trust between users and online companies.
Dr. David Belanger, AT&T Labs’ Chief Scientist and Vice President in Information and Software Systems Research, does not make a direct reference to the Semantic Web, however, it is evident from his comments that the Semantic Web will play a central role in the future vision he describes. He states that the greatest challenge for the future Web is managing all of the new and different applications which are emerging on the Web, such as image browsers which have video and other interactive media. This scenario demands one characteristic which the Semantic Web can offer: integration of homogeneous data.
The chairman of the Mozilla Foundation, Mitchell Baker (She of the famous “Firefox” hair) propounded a similar viewpoint to the other interviewees in relation to the growth of communities on the Web, and the Web’s mobility and thus its consequential filtration into every aspect of life.
The president of the Palo Alto research center, Mark Bernstein, does not make any reference to the Semantic Web, neither directly nor indirectly, mainly mentioning that the Web represents communities.
Robert Cailliau was one of the people responsible for the creation of the Web with Tim Berners-Lee at Cern. He reveals some important aspects for the future of the Web which until now have not been given adequate attention, such as the fact that all of the communities emerging on the Web (which was the main focus of many of the other interviewees), will fundamentally need the laws, economics and social norms required by any community. He states the important point that the Web is controlled by ontologies, therefore, who controls the construction of the ontologies, and thus, the data the user sees? Given that he states “Because it (the Web) works by ontologies…”, this gives implicit recognition to the fact that the Semantic Web already controls a significant volume of the data on the Web.
Robert Scoble, well-known blogger and head of Fast Company TV, concludes that ultimately the Web is about communication, corroborating the viewpoint of many.
Tim O’Reilly, one of the leading figures of the Web, focused on the sensor aspect of the Web. He summarized the Web as a concept rather than a concrete technology, which in the future will not just be the Web as it is today, but a part of an interconnected network of mobile phones, sensor networks, and even power networks, comprised of independent devices. He refers to this scenario as a “global brand”, which raises interesting questions, one being: Who will own this global brand?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7373717.stm