Sunday, November 16, 2008

A tale of two Internet sites


Somebody has probably come up with a definition of the Web 3.0, and somebody will probably be smart enough to tell me about it in a comment.

I haven't done any personal research on the concept, but I feel Barack Obama seems to be ushering in a whole new era of Internet use that will make the Web an indispensable and inescapable tool of democracy...could this be the Web 3.0?

Any doubters who thought President-elect Obama's (I love writing that) Internet strategy would slow down once enough money had been amassed to run the most brilliant presidential campaign in American history have only to click over to the uplifting, user-friendly change.gov, the new virtual "Office of the President-elect."

There's a very different feel and look going on in Obama's Web office than at the decidedly dour and user-hostile whitehouse.gov, where if you look very closely and can read tiny, light-gray print, you can figure out that President George W. Bush lives there.

The site's tab says "Welcome to the White House," but a quick scan of the content makes the visitor feel anything but. And once again, all over the site there's a clear preference for minuscule fonts -- do they really want anybody reading their garbage?

Given their own definition of the situation they're passing on to President-elect Obama, I have to think the answer is no:

"
With our Nation at war, our homeland targeted by terrorist adversaries, and our economy facing serious challenges, the Administration is committed to establishing and executing a transition plan that minimizes disruption, maintains continuity, and addresses the major changes in government since the 2000 transition..."

Well, dubya, it sounds like you did a great job with your two mandates! You've got an inspiring legacy going there!

I'm thinking I don't want that much continuity maintained. Sorry.



3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Betty, I like very much you blog.

I like also your definition about web 3.0: "the Web an indispensable and inescapable tool of democracy" (I'll use in my next post soon, can I?).
However I think this is web 2.0. Web 2.0 is "power to users", power to speak, power to join the conversation and power to think.

This is now, not tomorrow.

WEB 3.0 is something less "romantic" and more technical: its "Semantic web" ('the intelligent Web' from a definition by John Markoff of the New York Times in 2006)

So, web 3.0 will be tomorrow but web 2.0 is now. This is the biggest change.

Betty Carlson said...

Thank you angelo, that is interesting information.

I could have clicked on Google and found a definition of Web 3.0 -- I know Web 2.0 is now with all of the intercommunication between users "and so forth."

I hadn't seen it conceived of yet as a real tool of political democracy, so I just imagined it as Web 3.0.

"Semantic Web" - I'll have to do some research into that. You're right, it doesn't sound half has inspiring as what I was writing about...

Mauigirl said...

Hi Betty, thanks for your visit to my blog!

I agree, I love it that Obama is going to be the first real internet president. His Change.gov is such a great idea. I already e-mailed him some thoughts!