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A few days ago I was put in a circumstance that made me remember a workshop at witch I participated and that made me think about multiple questions and hypothetic solutions and scenarios . The workshop was focused on the internet and the internet of things that is the immediate consequence related to what the launching of the web 3.0 will bring . together with the people that where implied in the workshop we had to come up with different scenarios and hypothesis that where connected to what is called the" internet of things "
The workshop was held at a cultural institution in Amsterdam, http://www.mediamatic.net/ and it brought together people from different fields of studies . The participants where designers , architects , interaction designers ,freelancers and programers . The workshop was interesting and full of ideas related to new media . The reason why I mention this workshop is because of the way web 2.0 is used and what is it's purpose both as environment and as communicational platform and tool . At the moment web 2.0 has a 90 percent spam traffic , a strong focus on the porno industry that had flourished in a constant and parallel motion with the web . In the same time the web is used for criminal activities because of the difficulties that arise in tracking down information on the the internet . After all these statistics that are related to the usage of the web platform I became optimistic because of the fact that there are still cultural institutions and people that are interested in the development of the web beyond what is the " junk" and the "bad " part of it's usage .
Historically the web was invented in the nineteenth century by the belgian Paul Otlet that was the founding father of documentation a field of study now more commonly referred as information science . He was a pioneer and one of the first persons that included in his work notions related to hyperlinks , search engines , remote access and social networks . The theories of Paul Otlet can be easily seen as important foundation for what is the web is considered to be and what it should be today .
If we look at things on a different level we ca see the fact that the web is used in a different way but being a new environment
can explain all the things that are associated to it's usage . The fact that the world wide web is a new virtual environment and the fact that is it user based makes out of it a place that does not necessarily has to have rules and pre-imposed boundaries . Being an user based medium the web is in constant change and it has rules that are in constant change and development . The rules are changing according to the new needs and the new technologies that in one way or the outer are connected to what the web means and how it can become a multitasking tool . The theories of Paul Otlet are already contained the concepts of the way the web works , functions and produces interactions between users , entities , sites , networks and people . Otlet saw the "web " as a place where information was stored and distributed and more important accessed . The things that Otlet did not predict was the blend between communicational technologies and the web , the appearance of applications like the msn or skype that allow connections between different communicational platforms such as mobile phones that are dynamic (they can be carried anywhere ) and personal computers that are static because of the fact that they have weight and are not mobile units .The web is a fascinating place where everyone can find means of expression and interesting informations connected to every possible subject . The web can be seen as a new medium that is influenced and developed trough two factors . The first one is a theoretical factor that influences the way we see and understand what the web is and how it will develop in the near future . The theories that are connected to it make out of a place for experiment , a reflection and an alternate reality that has new laws and interconnections . The second factor is the technological one . Even if the web can develop trough the softwares that are related to it as a medium it still needs the hardware and the logistics of an strong developed social interface . The medium of the internet is one that can go beyond the influence of theory and self develop together with the technology that is present .This is possible because of the fact that the web can be minimized in the form of an application that is connected to function and becomes part of the users everyday "menu "
In this moment things tend to become complex and the facts and realities that are related to the usage of the web are more and more a clear representation of what users want and make out a possible second reality .