Web Of Tomorrow

The Internet has evolved from the its early days as U.S Department of Defense project into the foundation of World Wide Web and finally into what we use today to interact with one another via browsers, emails, Twitter, Skype and millions of other online tools.

So what the next step in its evolution and what is the big picture? Where will the web be in the fifty or even hundred years? Will internet help make the world looks like something out of Blade Runner or Minority Report?

I have googled the World Wide Web and the following is what I expect in the evolution of our online lives for the next 10 years:

1. The Web Will Be Accessible Everywhere

Our society couldn’t operate today without Wi-Fi, but it didn’t become prevalent until the early to mid-2000s. Before that, we used Ethernet cables and before that, our primary method of connecting to the web was via phone lines. Every few years, our method of accessing the web changes to be faster and more accessible.
Two things make me believe that the web will be accessible from anywhere and at any time: the rise of wireless 3G and 4G networks and the likelihood for nationwide Wi-Fi to blanket the U.S. and beyond.
Nationwide Wi-Fi is the more exciting prospect, though. In 2008, the Federal Communications Commission in US had an auction for the 700MHz wireless spectrum. A lot of attention was focused on that auction when Google joined as a multi-billion dollar bidder. See here for the related article. Some speculated that Google wanted to turn the spectrum into a nationwide Wi-Fi network in US. Once US get this started, I believed that it is only a matter of time before it reaches Singapore. Hence, a nationwide Wi-Fi network is still very possible and, in fact, seems logical given the direction of web technology today.
The point is that more devices will have access to these networks and that these networks will be more prevalent as time goes on. Ten to twenty years down the road, people will wonder how we managed with laptops disconnected from a Wi-Fi or 4G signal.

2. Web Access Will Not Focus Around The Computer

At present, we focus our internet use on Desktops and Laptops. In Japan and Singapore though, many more access the web primarily through their phones, a trend that is just beginning to sweep the globe. However, this is just the beginning. New Internet-enabled TVs will allow us to browse from the living room and soon our cars will become WI-FI hotspots.

In ten years, computers will only be a small percentage of how we use our web. We’re going to be accessing it from nearly every device and appliance we own.

3. Social Media Will Be The Largest Component

Stats published by Nielsen (as shown above) show that social media usage has increased by 82% in the last year. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and social interaction are becoming the focus of our online interactions, even more than search.

We’re social creatures, so it was only a matter of time until we figured out how to make the web an efficient medium for communication, sharing, and forging friendships. Now that we’re finally implementing the social layer though, it’s tough to find a scenario where the rise of social media doesn’t continue.

In ten years, when you access the web, most of the time you spend will be to connect with your friends. Almost all of that will be on social networks and through social media. It will be the #1 reason why we ever pull out our phones, tablets, or computers.

4. Augmented Reality In Mobile Web Application

Given that most mobile devices now have built-in digital cameras (some with video capability), people would naturally now want functionality beyond simple photography. Augmented reality applications can have a range of potential benefits, from making it easier to find your way if you get lost to letting you identify the person sitting across from you at a party.

That last example has many security and privacy experts worried. Facial recognition software is improving all the time, and pretty soon using an augmented reality program on your mobile phone to find out who a person is might be possible. You’d just snap a picture of them, and the app would cross-reference it with social networking profiles and photos across the Web, eventually coming across a match. From there, you could see whatever information the person had chosen to make public about him or herself.

While many people still see augmented reality as the stuff of science fiction, the truth is that at least rudimentary apps are already available. Layar, a free augmented reality app, is available for both the iPhone and Android-based phones. It uses layers provided by a variety of content providers such as Flickr, Wikipedia and Twitter to display an overlay of information on your mobile screen. Other apps will likely follow.

I shall my entry with an interesting video I found online in relation to the future of internet. Enjoy!

Entry 12 : Obama: The multimedia President

"

This campaign is just kicking off. We're opening up offices, unpacking boxes, and starting a conversation with supporters like you to help shape our path to victory. 2012 begins now, and this is where you say you're in."

The above quote and video are extracted from the My.BarackObama.com site and all these relates to the preparation of the 2012 President Election. From here, it is really not hard to see why Barack Obama is known as the multimedia president. The 2008 President election had left a deep impression on all Americans mainly due to Obama's seeming omnipresence. Prints, radio, TV, web, mobile and games - he was everywhere. Obama's multi-pronged and multimedia approach targets the younger internet generation who spent a greater amount of time online. The campaign's viral videos, text messages, email blasts and online advertising, organizing and solicitation for funding was unprecedented.

The following are 5 ways on how Obama multimedia campaign trumped the traditional old-school election campaign:

1. Videos
The 2008 Obama Campaign had uploaded over 1,821 videos on their YouTube channel over the course of 2 years. In comparison, his then competitor, McCain had only uploaded 329 videos. Some of the popular videos include that of A Perfect Union Speech, Dancing With Ellen and Iowa Caucus Victory Speech.

Hot videos from the Obama fan-base were also embedded on blogs, facebook walls and enjoyed healthy circulation.

2. Funds Raising
According to Blue Digital Estimates, the campaign had raised raised more than US$200 million from more than a million online donors. Even as we speak now, the Obama team has already started raising funds through the My.BarackObama.com site in preparation for the election campaign in 2012. Donations procedures are easy and hassle free. Donors just need to press the top right "DONATE" button and follow the instruction provided accordingly.

3. Fighting Smears
Accused of being a socialist, a closet Muslim, an Arab and "palling around with terrorists", Obama's campaign launched its own FightTheSmears.com site. The website allows fast-checked on every claims and clarifications on the spot.

What better way to defend its team from other candidates attacks!

4. Social Networks
The tools on MyBarackObama.com was based on rebuilt versions of those created for the Howard Dean's 2004 campaign. However, it was revamped and equipped with with popular social network sites such as blogs, MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Meetup.com and various online activism tools. This allows the Obama team to reach out to the younger generation who has grew more IT savvy over the years. Such method also eliminated the obstacles such as time and distance. This provided people with the sensation that they are present (in some cases, omnipresent) at and participated in the dramatic unfolding of events with regard to the election.

Want to find out more about Barack Obama? Take part in the Presidential trivia challenge which is interactive and fun at the same time!

5. ObamaMobile on the iPhone and text messaging
ObamaMobile allowed users to take a look through their contacts, and organize them by key battleground states, making it fast and easy to reach friends during the campaign. It also anonymously reported how those calls initiated in the app and relayed the info back to the Obama campaign.The Obama campaign also sent out a SMS to 2.9m mobile users who signed up to be the first to know of his VP selection. It instantly created a mobile phone database that the campaign could exploit. Here, Obama branded himself as cutting edge, inflated the already enormous press attention paid to him and his team. It also further established a list of supporters' most coveted form of contact: their cell phone numbers.

Obama continued his multimedia approach after being elected as the President Of America. After being his election, the White House launched Recovery.gov, a site that tracks where stimulus money will be spent. This comes after a revamp of the White House's own site, which added blogs, behind-the-scenes photos and video addresses from the President.

Barack Obama is truly a multimedia president.

Entry 11 : Internet and Journalism

As you can see from the video, technology has a profound impact on media today. It cannot be denied that online news is crippling mainstream media. Traditional news organizations are now concerned about the real and perceived loss of viewers and circulation to the internet.

It was reported that an increasing number of people are getting their news from the internet, rather than the traditional source of TV news and newspaper. This consists mainly of the younger generations who are more IT-savvy. They are able to access the internet, be it through laptop, iphone or blackberry, for the latest news updates. This is probably where the future of readers and newspapers are headed. The internet also challenges traditional news organizations in another way. Newspaper may lose classified advertising to websites which removes barriers such as time and distance. Advertising is the main stream of revenue for traditional news organizations. The decline of advertising revenue often threatened the livelihood of these news organizations. In addition, internet give people the power to report the news as they see it. This gives raise to citizen journalism which is more evident these days.

Citizen journalism is defined to be the concept in which members from the public played an active in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information. One recent good example of citizen journalism would be that of the following photo posted on STOMP.
The image was uploaded and shared in Facebook with the caption 'Why we need foreign talents in Singapore'. It has since sparkled off debates on how fit and strong are our NSmen. (See the article in STOMP for more details.)

As you can see, citizen journalism raises issues and communities that have not been fully covered within the confines of a newsroom budget. It bought issues that have not been reported by the traditional news organizations to the media's attention in an effective and yet cost saving method. However, citizen journalism has its downside too. Citizen journalism often takes heat for lack of credibility, poor original writing and biased reporting. Sometimes, the citizen journalism sites showed little understanding of the process of gathering the news and writing it in a conventional form. Conventionality of presentation is important after all as it gives readers a recognizable framework to assess and understand what is being written. Facts may sometimes be distorted and be presented in a negative light. One example would be that of the citizen journalism website, Temask Review, which delved into the personal life of the youngest PAP candidate Tin Pei Ling. The article questioned her motives of for marrying her husband and even presented her as a materialist and social climbing monster. Such attacks on a social media is bias and lacks objectivity. See article for more details.

For now, the future of journalism and its business model remains unknown. However, it is evident that to remain competitive, traditional news organisations should incorporate technology and the internet into their reporting. Newspaper should also created citizen journalism websites separately from their newspaper. Newspaper need sound journalism afterall.

Now, what do you think of the future of journalism in the face of growing technology and internet?

Entry 10 : BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET

The internet has entrenched itself into the economy today. This medium provides enormous opportunities to any company by removing the twin obstacles of time and distance. As such, E-Business is here to stay and thrive.

One of the most interesting local e-business that I have came across would be that of Nuffnang.com. What exactly does Nuffnang.com do? Let me start with the video below on Nuffnang.com.



As seen from the video above, Nuffnang.com is Asia Pacific first and leading blog advertising company. Their online platform allows advertisers to serve graphic or video advertisements onto more than 10,000 blogs hosted on various platforms. In layman terms, they linked advertisers to popular blog sites so that advertisers can tap on their online traffic. In this case, it is a win win situation for both parties. For advertisers, they are able to advertise their products and services to the targeted online audience. For the popular blog sites, they are able to make income through the ad served on their blog.

Nuffnang.com currently has four offices in 4 countries namely Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Australia. It is from these offices that the teams actively seek advertisers to match with bloggers. Their advertisers rollcall includes bluechips such as Citibank, Nokia, Sony, Proctor & Gamble, Nokia, Nike, Nestle and Apple! To date, they have worked with established bloggers such as Xiaxue, Dawn Yang and even celebrities such as Joanna Peh. How do I identiy the bloggers who are with Nuffnang.com? Well, just look for the banner that is similar to the one as followed:

However, beyond blog advertising, Nuffnang.com also pride themselves in being a community for bloggers by bloggers. They organized and supported a wide range of blogger attended events like movie screenings, seminars/workshops and parties. Recently, Nuffnang.com did their bid for charity by holding a Charity Flea in the name of Japan Earthquake. Ganbatte! Japan is a charity flea market that helps to raise funds for Japan's natural disasters victims.

Isn't it amazing how far a creative entrepreneurs idea could go on the online platform?

Entry 9 : Internet and Politics

In recent years, the internet has proven to be a necessary tool for campaigning on all levels. Campaigns have now tapped on sophistical Internal tools to enhance their campaigns and to reach out to young and web-savvy voters. Let us now take a look at the power and limitations of the internet for political campaigning.

Power of the internet for political campaigning

The internet is now a core element of modern political campaigns. Communication technologies such as e-mail and social networking websites enable faster communications by delivering one message to a large audience. In addition, the use of such communication tools allow the political campaign to reach out to the young and web-savvy voters. These internet technologies can also be used for recruiting campaign volunteers and to raise campaign funds.

One good example would be that of Obama's successful election campaign in 2008. Signifying the importance of internet political campaigning, Obama presidential campaign relied heavily on social media and new media channels to engage voters, recruit campaign volunteers and to raise campaign funds. The campaign's social website utilized a low cost and efficient method of mobilizing voters and increasing participation among various voter populations. This new media was incredibly successful at reaching the younger population.

Limitation of the internet for political campaigning

Even though the use of internet for political campaigning has numerous advantages, it can also be a double edge sword at times. While internet technologies allow a political party to reach out to the young and web-savvy voters, it may not be able to do so for the more elderly and less web-savvy voters. Internet can be used as a communication tool, however it cannot be used as the only communication tool in political campaign. To garner more support, political party still has to rely on traditional methods such as door-to-door visit for publicity and to gain support.

In addition, the choice of words are extremely important when relying on the internal for political campaigning. If the wrong or inappropriate words are used, it maybe be misleading and even be interpreted in a negative manner by the mass audience. One good example would be the recent SM Goh 'tongue-in-cheek' post on Tin Pei Ling in the social networking site, Facebook. (New Article: http://www.straitstimes.com/GeneralElection/News/Story/STIStory_652331.html) A facebook post by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has caused a stir among netizens and the media when he announced on Facebook that PAP new candidate Tin Pei Ling had been checked for trauma. But it turned out that it was just a 'tongue-in-cheek' post and the meaning of the post was not meant to be interpreted literally.

Although internet is a powerful tool in political campaigns these days, a successful campaign still relies on good managment political team and careful planning at the end of the day.