I'm not talking about Wikipedia or even Urban Dictionary. I'm not talking about coming up with words or concepts and actively defining their meaning. I'm talking about a movement in the web industry right now that is going to turn our constant online chatter into a learning machine.
Some might call it Semantic Web and some might call it Web 3.0. But I'm going to throw those concepts aside for a moment, and put it simply...
In the first phase of the web, we created information and accessibility. In the second phase of the web, we worked together to put context around that information. We created meaning around words and our works. We built relationships.
In the next phase of the web we will build meaning around our relationships, ourselves, our interests, and the way everything connects together.
Case in point. In the new school of Semantic Web you have software like Zemanta, what some people are referring to cutely as the blogger's little helper. It seems simple enough... you write a blog post and it recommends images, relevant articles, and places you might want to link to based on common keywords. But underneath, it's an impressive toolset of Semantic goodness: real-time clustering, natural language processing, and dynamic ontologies.
What's more impressive is that the newly launched featureset doesn't just look at keywords, but it puts it all in the context of you. It will scan your photo feeds, your favorite blogs, and your friends. It's taking a highly linear written form (the blog) and turning it into an object-oriented tool that connects your content to the web world... but with meaning.
In the next phase of the web, we won't just be connecting to each other, there will be common interests, shared conversations, or "social objects" that bond us together. For the first time ever, the web will understand why we decide to become social in the first place. And as it learns, the next web will be like a great party host, introducing us to each other and bringing us together into meaningful conversation.
Marta Strickland
Strategists & Planners
Comments (2)
I very much agree with the points you are making here. Using the same analogy of a party I made a point before for on the one hand a more social development and on the other hand a push towards exclusivity (see my presentation "Party at my place" at:
http://www.viddler.com/explore/avanderkrogt/videos/3/ )
Posted on October 22, 2008 04:58
I fully agree with your vision for the future. As we get more computing power available together with breaking the walled gardnes of social networks (so we can actually use all the locked up information), the range of new services will once again transform our every-day interactions.
Jure Cuhalev, Zemanta
Posted on October 24, 2008 06:01