The web originated in December 1990, from one computer, one browser, and has led to the new informational, big data era in the modern-day. Although from the modern perspective the web and its setup seem very simple or even obsolete, the main concept is the same as it is currently: to share information, but it was to anyone anywhere beforehand, and now it is much more related to businesses.
Internet providers use the web as an opportunity to cash in additional money, as websites that don’t want to make a deal with them will have a much slower loading speed, and social networking application providers have the ability to regulate and block information from the users, which both fragmented the essence of the concept of the web, that people could have then a sense of freedom to speak, yet such essence is now under challenge.
–
The author mentions the beneficial and “ill effects” of the Web. Describe two examples of these effects from your own experience on the web.
Ill effect – Unable to use certain websites overseas, for example, I couldn’t use Youku, a Chinese video content uploading website that is much like to YouTube.
Beneficial – Using certain data collecting websites, I know when a stock’s price is falling currently or not.
–
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.
Universality and Isolation
Open Standards and Closed Worlds
The Web and the Internet
Universality – regardless of what computer a user is using, once the link is linked to an object, users could have access to it despite the console model.
Isolation – when users don’t have all the control over their information, not all of their information are connected by an URL, thus they are locked.
Open Standards – standards that have professional supervision, are also widely viewed and accepted and are available for free on the web.
Closed Worlds – instead of using the common HTTP header of the URL, providers use their proprietary codes as substitutes, making the access pool much smaller in comparison.
The Web – an application that runs on the Internet
The Internet – an electronic network that parcels application information into packets and ships them among computers over wires and wireless media.
–
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.
what the author envisioned:
Lite but strong, capable of handling the same amount of tasks that a giant console could have done.
Wireless access.
I am pretty sure these two elements have already been achieved, wherever its the popularity increase from desktop to laptop, and the development of smart devices like Apple Watch that is both Lite in size but also strong in its capabilities in completing tasks.
Wireless access to devices are still an on going research topic, but this field has already had many products being released, such as wireless mouse and keyboards, microphones, earbuds, etcs.