While Rick and I were away in Scarborough this weekend I read an article in Wired Magazine titled "The Web Is Dead. Long Live The Internet." Interesting notion I thought - I always had it in my mind that the internet and the web came as a package - as one! However, what this article clarified for me was the fact that the web is actually more of an application so to speak, instead of the internet itself.

I know this seems like a really dorky topic so far, but I strongly encourage all to read it as I believe it greatly affects the future of the internet and how we will not only use it, but how it will be "packaged" to give us the ability to read books, watch movies and tv shows and acquire music. It will also determine how the future of technological creativity will be allowed to function and flourish and how we want to be marketed to through the advertising industry. This post of mine is rather long, so if you want to get to the point, just click on the link I provided and read the article. If you are still interested in what I have to say, feel free to read on...

Currently we are in an interesting place in regards to the technology we use. I had never thought about this much before and and the topic became even more engaging as I discussed some of it with Rick since its something that could possibly really affect his career in the future. The wired magazine article takes an interesting stance by pointing out that the web will eventually die as an application since its technology is now a few years behind and most people now access popular content through other means then a desktop computer. Our future in the internet will lay in applications such as those we find on gagets like android phones, i.e. the iPhone and even tablet devices like the iPad and the Amazon Kindle. Apparently every time we use these devices to access some content on the web, we are "voting with our finger" as to which we prefer. So far, the choice has been overwhelming... with apple now passing google, microsoft, and facebook in regards to overall wealth and profit margins its not hard to see that people find it easier and more convient to read, watch and navigate the web from limited applications. As we leave the student life behind, time becomes more concerning then money and research shows that more people (especially those who are not as web savvy) are willing to pay money for content then try to obtain it for free. Hence we have something like iTunes.

I won't disagree with this since Rick and I both are huge fans of using many of these devices. But I soon became horrified when I realized what my actions with these devises meant: by not accessing the web from my computer as often and instead, using these devices I am voting for a closed system instead of the open creative one in which I love. I have always been a fan of the web because it enabled people to try new things and create new technology in addition to making it widely available to the masses for next to nothing in cost or even for free. For example we have google who gave us gmail and all the amazing applications that run in its package. We had at the beginning Napster, which morphed to all kinds of other downloading systems including LimeWire and BitTorrent.

The web exposed us to amazing artists whom we would not have known otherwise. It forced the music industry to change forever in I think, a positive way. It allowed musician's to create and sell their music without the confines of an evil, controlling record company that would take all their money. Albiet we have the band Arcade Fire who has become amazingly popular and they been able to produce their own music the way they want to in a profitable way that will only continue their success. They have their own label and they record their own music in a church they bought and converted. It allowed us learning about the world and opened up doors to globalisation. The web allowed for a man named Dries Buytaert to create an XML system called Drupal in which people could build websites off of for free. A huge community has spawned off of this and now thousands of people around the world use this system including my husband to develop websites which are easier to update and change without restarting code from the very beginning.

I could go on and on, but I will stop there with my examples. The point is, continual use of tablet and other non-desktop devices forces people to purchase content instead of accessing it for free. For example, this Wired Magazine Article I just read on my iPad cost us $5.00 for the issue because it was being tailored to an application on the iPad. This is crazy because you can read the exact same article from your computer on the web for free! Yes the app packages it way better and brings the content to you instead of you going to it, but this convenience is going to cost us something. It changes the way business and advertising is done.

Don't get me wrong, I think people and artists etc. should be paid for their hard work, but what the web did was find a way for these people to still make their profits and for us to access this stuff at minimal cost or for free while encouraging creativeness. It weeded out the original "corporation" and all the useless middlemen. It put marketers in their place, who could no longer force annoying ads on us and at the same time saved them money. Now advertisers are back in the game because they are packaging their ads into these apps and we are forced to acknowledge them. And we are paying for it! Talk about a love hate relationship with Apple devices! In some ways you have to give Steve Jobs some credit, he managed to use content heavy devices when all other major players such as google were avoiding it and he made markers happy by giving them access back to the masses. I prefer using his devices and apps because the user experience is so much better, but what it means for the future of artists, creators and the "open" web I struggle with.

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