How the World Wide Web
Changed Humanity.
1.1 - Purpose
2.1 - Navigation
This presentation has been designed for you to move through linearly while allowing you to drill down into concepts of particular interest. If you look to the bottom right corner you will see the navigation arrows OR you can move with the arrows on your keyboard. Moving horizontally will show you an intro to each section, if you move down you will delve further into that topic.
3.1- Preceding Technologies
Imagine a world where you have to wait for weeks or months to send a message to someone in a different city. A place where you lived in one place and everyone you knew was there. A physical community. You read the news as published in the papers and you trusted that it was the truth from an authority. A place where if you didn’t know something, and no one in your community knew the answer, you would just go on not knowing... Imagine a quiet life where you were in control of your time.
3.2 - This is Not Science Fiction.
This was our world not that long ago before technology was continually pulling at our attention.
The World Wide Web has transformed the fabric of our existence for both good and bad. Let's get into how and why.
4.1 - Remediated Technology
We will use Marshall McLuhan’s Tetrad as a way of studying this technology’s effect on society. The main point of this presentation is to not consider the technology of the web itself, but the social impact on the way people communicate, educate, and socialize.
4.2 - Marshall McLuhan’s Tetrad
4.3 - What Does the Web Enhance?
Democratic Publishing: People can publish what they want, when they want, and distribute worldwide.
Virtual Communities: People don’t feel as alone, as they can find like-minded people to connect with.
Knowledge Acquisition: Much of human knowledge is accessible, anytime, anywhere.
4.4 - What Does the Web Make Obsolete?
Control over publishing: The power to publish is no longer placed in the hands of the few at a high cost.
Face-to-face interaction: Instant communication on a global scale.
Encyclopedias and Libraries: Knowledge is widely and easily accessed. Libraries must pivot to stay relevant.
4.5 - What Does The Web Retrieve That Had Been Obsolesced Earlier?
Writing and Correspondance: People begin to write again and share thoughts electronically with one another.
Community Tribalism: People double down on their thoughts as they can surround themselves in an echo chamber.
Activism: People learn more about how issues affect individuals and will campaign online for what they think is right.
4.6 - What Does It Flip Into When Pushed To Extremes?
Misinformation: The spread of propaganda and untruths is rampant on the web and is being used to socially hack society by foreign operatives.
Information Overload: There is so much information on EVERYTHING so it is difficult to narrow the focus.
Anxiety: With always accessible communication and social media, people don’t have downtime where they unplug.
5.1 - Let’s Step Back a Moment
This is the computer Burners-Lee used to create the internet. It became the world’s first web server!
5.2 - Seeds of Change
In 1984, Time Burners-Lee, a contractor at CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research), developed a database to link physicists from around the world and helped them share important data. Though the original proposal to create a large hypertext database garnered little interest, Burners-Lee endured and built HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), server software, and the first web browser in late 1990.
The first webpage, emulated to the left, was a Table of Contents of sorts that directed users on how to get started and navigate the very small amount of documents on the web.
5.3 - Early Websites
By 1993, a stunningly short amount of time, there were 500 web servers in the world however there were no search engines like Google but rather indexes. This made it difficult to find information unless you knew the address or it was linked from another page.
5.4 - Changes
5.5- Web Standards
5.6 - Exploration
Take a look at the following websites and think about how they have changed in:
- Aesthetics: This is the look and feel. Consider colour, fonts, layout, graphics.
- Content: This is not only the text on the page but what the graphics, videos, etc. are communicating.
- Interactions: Think about what the users is doing on the page. How are they interacting? How are they being engaged?
5.6 - Websites
The Economist - 2020
Here we see The Economist website as it is in 2020.
Grid-based design, simple colours, looks a lot like a printed newpaper in layout.
5.6 - Websites
The Economist - 1997
Click play to hear my thoughts:
5.6 - Websites
IMDB - 2020
You've likely recently accessed IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase) to look at cast members or movies a particular actor is in.
This website employs grid-based design, simple colours, and looks a lot like a printed newpaper in layout.
5.6 - Websites
IMDB - 2000
Click play to hear my thoughts:
5.6 - Websites
Megadeth - 2015
This is a recent website from the heavy metal band Megadeth.
This website is very graphical and seems to speak to the band's brand directly.
5.6 - Websites
Megadeth - 1998
Click play to hear my thoughts:
5.6 - Websites
MTV - 2020
The current website for MTV (Music Television) has more to do with reality shows than anything else.
The site is very grid-based as well, with large image-based links.
5.6 - Websites
MTV - 1996
Click play to hear my thoughts:
5.6 - Websites
New York Times - 2020
This is a recent shot and you can see content-wise that COVID-19 is still very much at the top of the news.
This website still looks like the preceding print technologies in both typography and layout.
5.6 - Websites
New York Times - 1996
Click play to hear my thoughts:
5.6 - Websites
Pizza Hut - 2020
Do you like pizza?! Then you've likely been on a website something like this to order some tasty takeout.
Always focused on user experience, pizza sites ensure their customers have no questions about how to navigate and pay for their 'zza'!
5.6 - Websites
Pizza Hut - 1996
Click play to hear my thoughts:
5.7 - Reflection
5.8 - Key Points
Two of the main things I identified as changing are:
- Aesthetics: Going beyond the obvious time-based style changes, I see the layout limitations of those early websites. I remember how difficult it was in the early 2000s to make a good looking website. If you wanted to lay things out like a printed page you had to use tables and image slices. It was a nightmare.
- Content: You may have noticed that all the content was created by ‘An Author’, which truly was seen as an ‘Author’-ity. The printed word had been taken as gospel, perhaps because of those early ties to the church. Content is written by the FEW for the MANY.
- Interactions: The user can do all kinds of things that weren't possible in the early days of the web where pages were static and the user a passive viewer.
6.1 - Current State
So that is our past. Now let's start thinking about how this remediated technology has changed the very fabric of what it means to be human.
Take a quick moment to think about why we make websites and compare your thoughts to the next slides.
6.2 - Purpose
6.3 - Building Blocks
6.4 - Guidance
We've come a long way and seen a lot of changes since those early days of the Web. It is now woven in the very fabric of our society. In 2016, The United Nations even declared access to the Internet as a fundamental human right and condemns countries that disrupt citizen access.
The landscape of the web hasn't been left to grow on its own. We've previously talked about the W3C who sets standards for coding but what about the more intangbile elements of the web? What about how it affects communication, education, and culture? Some organizations and tech companies have formalized guiding principles to make sure they are contributing in a meaningful and positive way.
Famously, Google's former motto and part of their corporate code of conduct simply states:
Don't Be Evil.
6.4 - Guidance
The Mozilla Manifesto
Conversely, Mozilla has a much more comprehensive set of principles. In it, they state: "An internet with these qualities will not come to life on its own." They challenge themselves and others to embed these values in the Web.
6.5 - Changing Communication
6.6 - Democratization of Publishing
The Good.
This was amazing! People were now part of developing the landscape of the web. As long as you had a computer, then you could contribute. (It wasn’t quite as altruistic as that - more to follow). We had reached a time where publishing had been democratized for the public. People felt important and valued as they were able to get their thoughts out there and have them validated by others.
6.7 - Democratization of Publishing
The Ugly Side.
6.8 - Reflection
7.1 - Changes to Culture
Think about how many times you access the web in a day. Maybe you wake up and check the weather. You likely check some kind of social media. Maybe watch streamers on Twitch, video content on YouTube, listen to podcasts on the go. Perhaps you check the news, play games, or find a recipe for supper. The web is a one-stop-shop for all our needs.
However, because we have these communities online that we love and so many of us have individual connections to the web, our experiences become more about what we want personally. This has made our society more individualistic as people no longer need to find the middle ground with others in their physical communities. They don’t need to have hard conversations about ideology, politics or religion. It is easier to ignore them and turn to virtual like-minded communities. This has changed people to vehemently defend their thoughts and feelings because ‘Look at all these people who agree with me!’ without having to deeply dig into the truth.
7.2 - Changes to Culture
The Good.
Virtual communities developed where people could share any type of content they were interested in. If you loved photography, you would publish to Flickr. Video content lives on Youtube. Social communities are born on Facebook. Encyclopedia-type content is continually updated and verified on Wikipedia. Thoughts, reflections, and information can easily be put into a WordPress blog. These of course are only a few of the most popular communities that grew with Web 2.0 but the huge power of this new web was its ability to connect people that are passionate and curious about certain topics.
7.3 - Changes to Culture
The Ugly Side.
8.1 - Changes to Knowledge
The web as we’ve talked about is really good at connecting people and ideas. This is powerful. If you have ever ‘gone down the rabbit hole’ of the web, jumping from one topic or idea to another through linked text, you know that you can end up in some surprising and interesting places. However, as we off-load our knowledge to our devices, it affects how and what we learn, remember, and our ability to think deeply. Does anyone even remember a single phone number anymore?? As we walk around with all this knowledge in our pockets, we are lacking wisdom.
"What the Net does is shift the emphasis of our intelligence, away from what might be called a meditative or contemplative intelligence and more toward what might be called a utilitarian intelligence. The price of zipping among lots of bits of information is a loss of depth in our thinking.”
-Nicolas Carr, Author of "The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google"
8.2 - Changes to Knowledge
The Good.
The power to facilitate connections is something that the web excels at. I have strong communities of practice (you can think of these as social or learning groups). If I have a question, I reach out to my network. I learn about interesting and amazing research happening and I can contribute to that conversation. This in turn can help the others perfect their work or see their work through the eyes of others. This collaborative environment promotes innovation and an authentic exchange of ideas.
8.3 - Changes to Knowledge
The Ugly Side.
8.4 - Reflection
In the following discussion board, record a short video or audio clip to answer the following question. Limit your answer to no longer than 90 seconds.
9.1 - Speculative Futures
That is where we are, but where might we go in the future? On the following two slides are two futures I've imagined.
9.2 - Dystopian Critique
Voices In My Head
I wrote this piece which follows a woman through her first morning with a new augmentation that allows her to access anything that would normally be found on the Web. I focused this narrative’s critique primarily on issues of privacy, consumerism, ethics and security. I thought it would be a more engaging narrative to write it from a first-person view to attempt to put the listener in the shoes of the character so they may reflect on how they would act in a similar circumstance.
9.3 - Utopian Call for Change
The Network
I wanted a very different tone for this piece. Much more uplifting and fun. So I decided to model it after an advertisement soliciting participation in this new world. The idea for this story formed when I was trying to imagine a world in which barriers to some of the ugly aspects of the web were removed. No consumerism. No social media. Rigorous verification of facts. Inclusivity of race, gender, and economic status. All languages respected as equal.
In a future like this, would you not want to answer this call?
References
Angela@readinghorizons.com. (2010, February 23). Impact of the Internet on Critical Reading and Writing Skills. Retrieved August 5, 2020, from https://www.readinghorizons.com/blog/post/2010/02/23/impact-of-the-internet-on-critical-reading-and-writing-skills
Carr, N. (2010, June 02). 'The Shallows': This Is Your Brain Online. Retrieved August 6, 2020, from https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127370598%3FstoryId
Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming. Cambridge: The MIT Press. muse.jhu.edu/book/28148.
Mozilla. (2017, March). Web Literacy. Retrieved August 5, 2020, from https://assets.mozilla.net/pdf/IHPbriefs_Web_Literacy_March_2017.pdf
Prickett, K. (2014, April 07). The History of the Democratization of Publishing: @thetorquemag. Retrieved July 31, 2020, from https://torquemag.io/2013/10/the-history-of-the-democratization-of-publishing/
Reed, T. V., & Taylor & Francis. (2014). Digitized lives: Culture, power and social change in the internet era (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203374672
UCanDoEat. (2014). Languages used on the Internet [Digital image]. Retrieved August 5, 2020, from https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/2d9f90/languages_used_on_the_internet_oc/
Vanderbilt University (Producer). (2019). The Future of Digital Literacies [Television series episode]. In Leading Lines. Nashville, Tennessee.
Wood, J. (2015, June 10). Top Languages of the Internet, Today and Tomorrow. Retrieved August 11, 2020, from https://unbabel.com/blog/top-languages-of-the-internet/