What the year 2014 will bring...

I had to post this clip from Spaceballs, the Mel Brooks Stars Wars spoof movie, because of an article I read today from The Register. Today on Slashdot, one of the main stories is about the report from The Register. Irish researchers have reportedly developed a high-speed search engine that will give “answers” and not links as results. The headline: Super-Fast RDF Search Engine Developed.

From The Register article:

"'The importance of this breakthrough cannot be overestimated,' said Professor Stefan Decker, director of DERI. 'These results enable us to create web search engines that really deliver answers instead of links. The technology also allows us to combine information from the web, for example the engine can list all partnerships of a company even if there is no single web page that lists all of them.'"

Slashdot itself represents an interesting example of a user-contributed website that I think will become more common in the future. But it’s the content of the story and the user’s comments that stood out for me. Most of the comments were incredibly pessimistic and sarcastic, including one which quoted the Spaceballs scene above. But the more I thought about it, the more I found the relevance in the Spaceballs scene. The whole goal of the internet should really be this: speed and efficiency. People want as much information as they can get in as little time as they can get it, even at "ludicrous speed".

As technology progresses, we become more lackadaisical , expecting objects, machines to do the work that we once had to do with our hands. We want everything to move faster. We want our creations to be as smart as we are. And in seven years, technology will be even smarter than it already is.

In last week’s readings, we read an article from the New York Times about Web 3.0, about machines that will “think” instead of simply following commands. Instead of having to visit countless websites to plan a vacation, we will be able to type in our requirements and get an “answer” instead of simply a list of links that we have to sift through.

Obviously The Register article suggests that this sort of technology is already being produced. From the comments page, it appears the tech world has its doubts. But I think the web is on its way to more advanced search engines that will help us find more information, quicker than ever. Our machines will become intelligent. They will interpret and remember the way we use them, creating a customized product that doesn’t require us to think as much.

Web design will become so common that focus on interaction design will be necessary to compete. In this world of attention deficit, people need to be able to find what they want quickly, or else they will move on. Focus on information architecture will be essential.

I also think online storytelling sites like Google Earth-Darfur will become more prevalent. The ability to make an emotional connection with people in this world of technology is important. Technology allows us to distance ourselves from each other, but also has the potential to bring us closer together. Through the use of visual images (photographs, videos) sites like Google Earth-Darfur are able to bring the people of Darfur to life for people across the world. Sites that work for a greater good, that raise awareness of social and political issues will become essential to maintaining an understanding of the world around us.

YouTube is still a relatively new site and I think in seven years it will become an even bigger platform, not only for entertainment, but for education and awareness.

We will soon be able to do even more from our cell phones than we already can. Handheld devices will continue to develop more features and web designers will have to become more concerned with designing for the “small screen.” I envision a handheld device that will “remember” the way you use it and will use those memories to create a smoother, quicker experience.

I also think the web will become more accessible to those with disabilities. Advancements in technology in this field will help those with accessibility issues navigate and use the web.

I also can’t help but think of the article we read earlier in the semester about personalized billboards that flash birthday messages to those driving under them (if they have the chip in their car). I think these types of personalized advertisements will also continue to develop based on individuals specific needs and previous buying experiences. Amazon’s “recommendations” list that pops up when you log in is a milder form of this. Based on your previous purchases, it picks out things based on what other people bought and “recommends” them to you. I’m reminded of the movie Minority Report where Tom Cruise’s character is bombarded with personalized ads as he walks down the street. I hope this doesn’t happen in the next seven years, or even in my lifetime, but I wouldn’t be surprised if personalized ads become more commonplace on the internet, at least on sites that you log in to.


Science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke, once said "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." This is what we want: to be able to interact with a machine and not even realize that we’re interacting with it. We don’t want error messages and slow-loading videos. We want it to be fast, efficient, and do as much work as possible, so that we don’t have to. On some level it seems like the easy way out: to let machines do the work we used to do or that our ancestors did. Where is the work ethic, the sense of responsibility? But hopefully the goal of new technologies is to speed up and simplify so that we can spend more time with friends and family and even ourselves. And when we do spend time online, let it be sometimes for a greater good: to raise our awareness of the world, to connect with those whom we can’t otherwise connect with, to be reminded of history, so we can look to the future.

Science and technology revolutionize our lives, but memory, tradition and myth frame our response. Expelled from individual consciousness by the rush of change, history finds its revenge by stamping the collective unconsciousness with habits, values, expectations, dreams. The dialectic between past and future will continue to form our lives.

- Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.