Blog Insights: Tim Berners-Lee on Redefining the Web

by Dan Blacharski

December 4, 2007 —

What bloggers are saying about the latest in information technology

Nothing gives bloggers more fodder than a new buzzword, and the greatest discussions
this week on the blogosphere are about the "giant global graph" as
defined by none other than the inventor of the Web himself, Tim Berners-Lee.
Reactions have ranged from unintelligible academics to a stunned "huh?"

In a rare blog post, Berners-Lee
takes a visionary approach to the evolution of the Web, going beyond even its
very "web-ness" to an entirely new level. Starting with a description
of the Web as something that links documents, he notes that the next evolution,
which is currently underway, is to think not about the documents themselves
as the most important, but rather, that which the documents are about. Berners-Lee's
vision is therefore about taking the Web to the next level of abstraction, a
sort of "unified theory" of World Wide Web.

What is noteworthy about this unified vision is that it goes beyond the application
level and document level, creating an uber-level of information sharing that
is more automatic and useful. Berners-Lee cites an example of social networking
sites, in which one must input one's basic information multiple times, once
for each site. In his "giant global graph," this would no longer be
necessary, because information would transcend the level of these Web 2.0 applications.

I do some work in computer security, so I know that there are thousands of
security wonks out there right now who are grinding their teeth in anticipation
of the security issues and problems of making this sort of information open.
And there's no doubt that it is a challenge that would have to be overcome,
and Berners-Lee admits that this vision requires giving up some level of control
for the purpose of greater benefits. But contrary to the standard security wonk
creed, which is "everybody is out to get you," Berners-Lee suggests
that the next Web evolution is "about getting excited about connections,
rather than nervous."

Pete Cashmore has a laugh over the whole thing on Mashable,
throwing us a few more buzzwords (Post-It notes should be "retro-Twitters").
Stowe Boyd says
he "grudgingly" understands the need for the term "social graph,"
but still says that the new buzzword isn't necessary, but does note that the
older term, "social network," has become linked with individual social
web sites like MySpace and Facebook. The social graph goes beyond those individual
applications. One's "social graph" is a unique set of information
and applications that, in Berners-Lee's vision of what the Web will become,
would have a level of connectivity and interaction of its own that rides on
top of, and not within, those individual applications.

Nick Carr also
gives us a dose of reality, making us wonder what "ordinary" users
want and care about, and that is probably not theoretical and mathematical abstracts.
Ordinary users care about how something can make life easy for them, and that,
according to Nick, is the real test of the Social Graph, or indeed, any other
Web 3.0 concept.

ITworld.com