Friday, November 18, 2011

X. Coda

In the previous posts, we looked at the various features and functions of the Internet.

To refresh your memory, here is a list of what we have covered:
I. Introduction
II. Social media
III. Social networking
IV. e-Commerce/e-Biz
V. e-Learning
VI. Internet Security
VII. Multimedia
VIII. Politics
IX. Journalism

The next step now is to explore what the future holds for us, and the Internet. What will the Internet be like in the next 5-10 years? What major breakthroughs will there be? Will the Internet be replaced with something that is cleaner, more intelligent, more intuitive, and more efficient?

 No doubt devices and applications are getting smarter and faster, but they are often limited by the cosntraints of the current Internet. I envision a new Interent that is revolutionarily different from what we are used to now; in the future, the Internet may be intuitive to our use, and more "human-like".

Here are some videos that show the different predictions on what the future of the Internet will be like.

The Future Internet: Service Web 3.0 (by semantictechnology)

The Internet of Things (by IBMSocialMedia)

SOA4All in the Future Internet of Services (by semantictechnology)

Microsoft's Vision of the Future (Parody) (by IGNentertainment)

MOCOM 2020 - The Future of Mobile Media and Communication (by MontyMetzger)

However, this brings up an issue which may seem scary to some people. Will computers and the Internet rule our lives? If we rely on them to do so much for us, will our brains degenerate?


I feel that the advancement of new information and communication technology like the Internet should spur humankind to improve on current practices and better the world in which we live in. As long as we can keep up with the exponential growth of the Internet and other technology, the abovementioned worries should not be a problem. It is also a motivation for us to constantly improve ourselves and our world, and would be more of a boon than a bane to us.

This is all I have for you readers. It has been fun for me to do these weekly postings and I hope you enjoyed reading them too :) Though we have come to the last chapter of this journey, the process of learning should be ongoing. Let us explore and anticipate the future trends together!

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