Reflections on NET 11 in 2008...

Mirror, mirror?

We are very fortunate to be at a time in the internet’s ‘life cycle’, where we have the benefit of hindsight and can learn from the mistakes and challenges of the past (eg Goffer, Microsoft vs Netscape, Napster, Kazaa) and we can see a very bright future for communicating (Facebook, You Tube, Digg, del.icio.us, My space).

Web 2.0, ( 3.0...etc) and the semantic web will be fascinating developments in the next 5 years – will students studying Second Life in 10 years think that it’s naff? (remember how we feel about Blinkenlights and its Star Wars version now!), what will the first (developed world) generations to grow up with computers and the internet as normal seek and develop? How will the access gap to information for the populous of developing nations narrow in the years ahead?

How will society develop its communications in response to the internet? Which according to Vint Cerf, is "...a reflection of our society and that mirror is going to be reflecting what we see," (Ward,2004)

I have learned much about the emphemerality of the web, seen first-hand how active communication generates identity awareness (Go Owen!), discovered what metadata actually is, tried to shed light on and diminish the invisibility of difference and keep up with fast data and the paradox of the world wide web, become more aware of the rules of netiquette and attempted to make my communications more effective by combining technical and communicative competence (Allen, n.d.). Reflected on why a traditional library is so very different from the web, had a peek into the deep web and found whole new worlds of resources.

I’ve new and older technologies and put them into practise - eg blogged for the first time and created a very fundamental web page using html, gained an appreciation of the ‘pioneers’ of internet technology and applauded the geeks who invented because they required it , as Tim Berners-Lee states "A lot of ideas,...were developed by geeks who needed them...and I use ‘geek’ as a term of high praise..."(Farndale, 2008).

I am not sure that I am yet an 'advanced internet user', however, throughout this course I have developed even more of a fascination for the internet and its possibilities which, fortunately for us, all, are only limited by the human imagination.

Enjoy the future!

Cheers from Lulu : )

References

Allen, M. et al, n.d. Internet Communications Concepts Document (WebCT, Net 11 Studies) Retrieved 6 June, 2008, from http://webct.curtin.edu.au/SCRIPT/305033_b/scripts/serve_home

Farndale, N. (2008, June 21).World Wide Wizard. The Sydney Morning Herald. Good Weekend p. 50.

Ward, M. (2004). What the net did next.
Retrieved August 28, 2008, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3292043.stm