Reading Response #2
Eating, studying, before going to bed, and even when going to the bathroom, the web may be a presence that spends more time with you than your neighbors. This web’s convenient accessibility and universality are remarkable advantages, but sometimes these advantages bring about several ill effects, such as an overwhelming amount of indiscriminate information and vulnerability to exposure. I realized the former ill effect during the COVID-19 period since I could find a vast amount of fake news about the constantly changing government guidelines, which indeed confused the people. As for the latter, when I was doing my homework by surfing the web in my childhood, I suddenly came across a pornographic website, which was a big shock for me at a young age. Correspondingly, in “Long Live the Web,” the author categorizes the fundamental principles and advantages of the web, as well as the recent problems that infringe upon the essence of the web, into three major classifications: Universality and Isolation, Open standards and closed worlds, and The web and Internet.
Universality is a foundational concept of the web and enables everyone to access and communicate without constraints. Thanks to that, people actively interact with each other and sometimes create their own communities, which became the current issue described by the author: the increase of isolation as new platforms like Twitter and Instagram emerge. For instance, using Microsoft Windows, I did not have any limitations to downloading various files, including a Korean word processor program. However, with macOS, I encountered the issue of only being able to download files in formats approved by the operating system. This can be seen as a manifestation of Windows’ universality and macOS’s isolation.
Open standards and closed worlds can also be considered as similar concepts. Open standards allow for access, modification, and rapid development by everyone, but they may lack quick feedback in terms of security. On the other hand, closed worlds are user-friendly and provide fast support, but they have limitations in terms of cost and communication.
The web and Internet share a common aspect in facilitating communication beyond borders, but strictly speaking, the internet is the underlying infrastructure while the web is a service layer built on top of it. For another example, to make a phone call, I use various applications like KakaoTalk, Discord, or Skype. The internet connects my IP address with the recipient’s IP address to enable the call, while the web provides different forms of communication (video calls, voice calls, and chat) with the applications I mentioned.
The author repeatedly expresses the hope for the web to evolve by preserving fundamental principles. Contrary to his expectations, the advancement of technology and the increase in AI’s practice promotes isolation. Not only in the aspect of social networking, but isolation in everyday life is now increasingly occurring with developments such as Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, Apple’s car development, and the emergence of Google Assistant. This intensifies the technological competition between companies and divides users’ preferences. At this point, I believe it is necessary to discuss how to collaborate not only for the advancement of each company but also for the progress of humanity, as the author suggests.