Q: The author mentions the beneficial and “ill effects” of the Web. Describe two examples of these effects from your own experience on the web.
A: Beneficial: Any person could share information with anyone else, anywhere. One example: I can search for anything on the internet.
ill effects: Governments are monitoring people’s online habits, endangering important human rights. Wireless Internet providers are being tempted to slow traffic to sites with which they have not made deals. Large social networking sites are walling off information posted by their users from the rest of the Web. One example could be: I have to type in the same personal information whenever I sign up for a new website.
Q: In your own words, describe the concepts below, contrast them to one another, and, if possible, share associations from your own experience on the web.
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- Universality and Isolation
A: Universality means that different kinds/groups of people can use it, different kinds of information can be created and spread, and different kinds of computers, the internet, and browsers can have access to this information. Isolation means that information you typed in at one website/platform can’t be used or transferred to another site, leading to over-rely and later centralization of one single website or platform forming a monopoly. So, every platform is like a “silo walled off from each other”
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- Open Standards and Closed Worlds
A: Open standards mean that it is charge-free for one to create an URL or a website. Closed worlds mean closed worlds with URLs can’t be used by the one outside, it can mean an application on smartphones that can’t be approached by a single link. It is an enclosed system walled off from the rest of the web. For example, I think games on the smartphone are a closed world that can’t be shared or viewed by sending a link to someone.
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- The Web and the Internet
A: The Web is built upon the Internet. It is an application
that runs on the Internet.
Q: The author talks about his visions for “the Web in the future”. More than 10 years after this text was published, identify the elements of his vision and discuss the ways in which they are (or aren’t) still present in today’s web. Feel free to also point out issues that have since arisen (e.g. the idea of “fake news”), and discuss how they might relate to the author’s vision.
A: I think the linked data are still present today. I think it is because with so much diverse information on the internet, it is very hard to find the things that you need, but with linked data, there are connections between relevant things which can speed up your search for information. Also, I think the surveillance of data is also everywhere nowadays, some companies will make use of personal information and sell it to other companies who will promote their products to you based on their investigation of your information. The surveillance is horrible, meaning that the internet is not a safe space for you to create and share, it has become a place where you will be watched and used.