10 Future Web Trends
by Richard MacManus

We’re well into the current era of the Web, commonly referred to as Web 2.0. Features of this phase of the Web include search, social networks, online media (music, video, etc), content aggregation and syndication (RSS), mashups (APIs), and much more. Currently the Web is still mostly accessed via a PC, but we’re starting to see more Web excitement from mobile devices (e.g. iPhone) and television sets (e.g. XBox Live 360). What then can we expect from the next 10 or so years on the Web?

1. Semantic Web: In a nutshell, the Semantic Web is about machines talking to machines. It’s about making the Web more ‘intelligent’, or as Berners-Lee himself described it: computers “analyzing all the data on the Web – the content, links, and transactions between people and computers.”

2. Artificial Intelligence: In the context of the Web, AI means making intelligent machines. In that sense, it has some things in common with the Semantic Web vision.

3. Virtual Worlds: Second Life gets a lot of mainstream media attention as a future Web system. But at a recent Supernova panel that Sean Ammirati attended, the discussion touched on many other virtual world opportunities.

4. Mobile: In 10 years time there will be many more location-aware services available via mobile devices; such as getting personalized shopping offers as you walk through your local mall, or getting map directions while driving your car, or hooking up with your friends on a Friday night.

5. Attention Economy: The Attention Economy is a marketplace where consumers agree to receive services in exchange for their attention. Examples include personalized news, personalized search, alerts and recommendations to buy.

6. Web Sites as Web Services: Major web sites are going to be transformed into web services – and will effectively expose their information to the world.

7. Online Video / Internet TV: This is a trend that has already exploded on the Web – but you still get the sense there’s a lot more to come yet. It’s fair to say that in 10 years time, Internet TV will be totally different to what it is today. Higher quality pictures, more powerful streaming, personalization, sharing, and much more – it’s all coming over the next decade. Perhaps the big question is: how will the current mainstream TV networks (NBC, CNN, etc) adapt?

8. Rich Internet Apps: As the current trend of hybrid web/desktop apps continues, expect to see RIA (rich internet apps) continue to increase in use and functionality.

9. International Web: As of 2007, the US is still the major market in the Web. But in 10 years time, things might be very different.

10. Personalization: Personalization has been a strong theme in 2007, particularly with Google.

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About JayCut: Development of the advanced technology that makes JayCut’s online video editing possible began early 2006. In December 2006 a technology demonstration was put up on the Internet. It attracted quite a lot of interest, both from users and newspapers, and movies of everything from parties to gardens were created. In February 2007, the company JayCut AB was founded. In May 2007 closed beta testing of the beta began, and in June 2007 the open beta was launched.

In this article by Jennifer Woodard Maderazo at PBS’s Mediashift, most smartphones are classified as not very smart. One of the culprits according to her are media companies that aren’t stepping up to the plate to create content that is compatible with the over 70 million smartphones sold last year. Her hope is that the iPhone is the answer to all her woes with its ability to bring rich content right off the web. However, we need to make sure that the content we produce can reach these cellphone viewers, which outnumber web users worldwide. In many countries cellphones are the only form of electronic communication people have. Understanding this need and responding to it means we can reach many more people than we currently do. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Why My Smartphone Is Dumb About the Net
by Jennifer Woodard Maderazo

So why is this so hard? I’m surely not the only one who has felt this level of frustration. With about 70 million smartphones sold last year and even more regular cell phones boasting the ability to access the web, I’m guessing I’ve got more than a few brothers-in-arms in this battle. The question that bugs me the most is why media companies aren’t quicker to rectify this problem. Surely they have something to gain by making our lives easier; if nothing else, they would gain loyalty to their brands for not making us cringe when we hear the word “mobile” after their names. I think all parties — carriers, media companies and phone manufacturers — can bear part of the blame, but in general they could greatly improve their respective products by making ease of use the No. 1 priority. – more

An interesting development from the Publishing Group of America in a post from Editor & Publisher, the company is going to start pushing paid content from their magazines to each subscriber through their cell phones.

PGA Extends Content to Mobile Phones
By E&P Staff July 10, 2007
NEW YORK Publishing Group of America (PGA), the company behind the newspaper supplements American Profile and Relish, is directly extending its content to readers through mobile phones. Through a partnership with DMD Mobile Holdings Inc., the new service offers readers pay-per-use subscriptions on a monthly basis for access to such content as recipes. – more

In a recent piece by Alex Iskold on “The Physics of the iPhone” on Read/WriteWeb, which is a follow up to a recent article, Iskold says that:

“The iPhone is not only a breakthrough handheld device, it is a device that brings a mesh of digital and physical to the masses. Apple achieved it by turning a phone (and ipod, video player and more) into software that creates a life-like experience, but also adds a digital lightness and playfulness. It is likely that we are going to see more devices that let us interact with information in this way.”

Iskold is right on target in that we will see more and more devices that can bring the viewing public the rich multimedia content we produce. Thinking about how we can brand our content, get it to the consumer, and continue to create meaningful stories with new technologies should be part of our future conservation.

The Future of Citizen Journalism
By Rory O’Connor July 3, 2007 (Excerpts)
No one should still wonder about the possibility, much less the efficacy, of ‘citizen journalism.’ But, more importantly, we should ask if more participation and better information will make us happier. Can ordinary citizens actually function as journalists? Or, as many in the mainstream media would have it, is journalism some sort of priesthood of professionals who venture, Moses-like, to mountaintops and then return to deliver the news as divinely revealed truth to the rest of us earthbound mortals?

Oh Yeon-ho set the stage with his welcoming message, which accurately noted, “The question looming large is increasingly less about ‘digital opportunity’ and more about how we can best manage the abundance of content, Web platforms and user participation” now pouring forth. Oh also laid out “a host of pressing issues” including the need to balance user-created content with editorial accountability, as well as to identify business models to sustain citizen journalism during an age of ever-more rapid commercial and technical transitions and unclear revenue models.

… can citizen journalism really change the world? Many skeptics still doubt it can even change the news industry, and still question, despite much evidence, whether ordinary citizens can really function as journalists. But why not? After all, I’ve been a professional journalist for decades — yet I never took a course in it, received a license for it, or even got anointed on high. So here’s my advice — if you don’t like the news, report some of your own! -more

This is a must read. Alex Iskold on Read/WriteWeb writes about the transition from “Digital Life” to “Life Digital” and its impact on how we interact with the world around us. He writes in the article Digital Life vs Life Digital: Our Inevitable Digital Future:

“…where these technologies become really interesting is when you combine them with cameras inside cell phones. Imagine going out to your back yard, pointing to a tree and asking: What kind of tree is this? or imagine walking around in a new city, pointing to a building and getting its complete history. Tagging and annotating our physical world with digital tags and other kind of digital information will make our world much richer.

Think about the the limitless possibilities of this technology within the stories we tell. I can imagine a reader using their cell phone to connect to an online newspaper with the capability to not only see and hear the multimedia content, but also to interact within the story itself. Interesting possibilities.

From Editor and Publisher: Nokia Announces ‘Mobile Newspaper’ In India. Nokia and Malayalam Manorama, India’s south-based publication group have teamed up to launch a ‘mobile newspaper’ on all of its GPRS-enabled handsets. Users with Nokia GPRS-enabled handsets in Kerala will be able to access national and international news through the service. Sports, travel, music, astrology, and movies are some of the news categories that will be accessible through the vernacular news portal. -more