The idea browser

Proposed in September 2009, Montreal, Canada

The page browser (Netscape, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc. ) enables internet users to navigate from one web page to another. We all know intuitively what it is; I suppose there is no need for further explanation. The existence of this type of web browser, its structure, and its functionality are strongly related to the web page, which is the way we share information through the web. But the way we use the internet is ever changing. This change is driven primarily by our needs, and it is guided by what becomes technically possible. At this moment we are building the infrastructure of the semantic web, what is also called the web3.0, which will introduce a whole new sphere of possibilities. The semantic web makes it possible to automatically recognize items within a body of content, like objects, ideas, etc. The way we will structure content to be shared on the web will change. The web page will not disappear completely, but it will certainly not maintain its actual status. Our content will be semantically structured, modular, and even more scattered across the web. We will need a browser of items, a browser of things. This tool will search the web and will pull out items, aggregate them dynamically, and present them in a human readable format. The idea browser, or the browser of things, will evolve in parallel with the way we create stuff to be shared on the web, which will closely follow our use of the web.

The evolution of the web

In the incipient stages of the web we had machines linked to each others. Physical locality was important, at least the network address of a specific machine. The physical machine was visible by the user, it's content was treated as a unit, only analyzable by the user, a human. Soon after, the web page was created and was rapidly adopted by everyone. It become the way users shared information. The web page is the analogy of our house, our store, our business, in the virtual world. Web page owners put whatever information they considered important to be shared with others, and they structured it in the best way possible to achieve their communications goals. The text-based content was enriched with pictures, and after with videos as bandwidth was increased. As this happened, the web became a web of pages, from a web of machines. We see web pages, and their URL location, but the server where they are stored became irrelevant to the user. The web browser was rapidly adapted to this new reality. The idea was to create a window into someone's web page. Progressively, it acquired other navigation-related functionalities, like bookmark, browsing history, media players, translation, etc. Web pages didn't remain static either. They were infused with a broad variety of applications, which paved the way to the commercial web (the online store), and later to the social web (MySpace, Facebook, Youtube, etc), or the web2.0. Today we are not only sharing information on the web, we socialize, we collaborate, we use it to coordinate our actions, etc.

Another developmental branch of the browser was to make it fit mobile devices, as the access to the web become available on the street. I don't consider this a very big developmental step, it was only an adjustment, although location-based applications have the potential to evolve into something very different.

At this moment, we are building the infrastructure of the semantic web, which will make possible another use of the web, logistics. Our static computers, and increasingly our mobile devices will become our servants. The semantic web infrastructure will make it possible to use our cell phone to organize very complex actions. For example, one will be able to build a cell phone application that organizes vacations, by taking into account a profile of a user, and some basic user input requirements and constraints. The application will present the user with a few options, where transportation, lodging, eating, on site activities, and everything else will be automatically taken care off, including payments and reservations, once the user has made his choice. This will be one way humans will interact with the web in the near future, the web will become in some sense invisible, it will become a huge processing system connecting real needs with real solutions. But our direct contact with the web will not fade so rapidly. We will still be searching the web directly; most probably we will not be looking for web pages, but for a specific subject, idea, or object. The web will be a web of things and ideas, a place where these entities are interconnected and extracted in context from different bodies of content and context.

See also The Scientific Oeuvre