The great pontificators of the web are going to arrive in New York to discuss what's next. I think at a time when our economy is bottoming out and people are struggling to find answers, these type of conferences can really help the U.S. start to climb out of the rut. Don't get me wrong, thinking about the future and actually realizing the benefits are not the same thing, execution is definitely the key to success. But disruptive technologies and radical breakthroughs need to be top of the mind.
Many of you have probably heard of the semantic web, I like to think of it as artificial intelligence on the web. The key to a semantic web is intelligence. All of this data that we are putting out on google, facebook, twitter, blogs, email, SMS, smart phones is very meaningful. However, it is not meaningful when it is in silo.
What would happen if there was a way to connect all of these disparate systems? What if there was a means to help a system understand what all of the data you are putting out there means and then help you live your life?
I think the immediate fear is one of "Big Brother" or HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and there is definitely a risk that if this data is not secured and that the right regulations are not in place, there could really be some danger associated with integrating all of this data. At the same time, think of the possibilities that could come from connecting your information?
Below is a vision presented by Microsoft, much of it is very UI focused and the way we interact with computer systems stands out, but take a look at something deeper. Your data can help you live your life, become a stronger employer, a better customer, retailer, teacher, ...
I'd love to see the day that I can jump in my car and see the top 5 things that I need to get done on the windshield. From there, quick access to help me get through those tasks while reminding me to get some exercise and to make sure that I call my kids to wish them good luck on their school presentation. Your data knows all of that about you, but today, you need to look for it, you have to make decisions, review the data, and plan your events. But on any given day, how different are those decisions, or those plans? We are creatures of habit, if your data can be mined and analyzed, very strong trends would stand out that could then be presented back to you to help you with your life.
Taking another leap, advertisers would actually be in a position to help you make the best purchases for your needs. It would be the ultimate sales scenario, your data can help present you with options that you really need, not spam that fires at you because you used a key search word that might mean that you want to buy something. If you just left to go on a trip to New York for a big presentation like the Web 3.0 conference, and your data knows that you like to eat Italian, prefer to take taxis over the train, and that you like staying at the Marriott, how about getting all of that setup for you by clicking one button on your phone?
I don't think we are that far away from this day, the key is, who will make this a possibility? Let’s push for the innovators to keep making the U.S. great. There are always opportunities to make life better for all of us.
2 comments:
I am starting to feel as though there is an overload of social networking and websites trying to get involved with people's life. There may be an emergence of sites like nutshellmail.com and others that attempt to consolidate some of this stuff and keep people linked in from a single place.
Ping.fm is one that I am seeing more and more people using to connect all the different social networking data. What I'm looking for is a way to take advantage of all the intelligence that exists in our data. My data knows more about me than I do, now let's figure out how to use it to help us get more out of these sites.
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