Translated material
From Web 2.0. to the E-society 2.
The new Internet reality will change people's social lives
A few years ago, the term web 2.0 became popular. It is typically used as a comprehensive definition of new opportunities and direction for the Internet. About web 2.0. usually mentioned when talking about any innovations or promising projects on the Internet. All new products of recent years, such as the emergence of Wikipedia, the development of the blogosphere, new search and communication services and networks are usually classified as Web 2.0. At the same time, there is a widespread version that this is actually an artificially created concept, a marketing ploy designed to arouse additional consumer interest in new products from Internet companies.New reality
There are certainly reasons for this opinion. All the formulations of what Web 2.0 is are extremely vague. However, the main message of the creators of the Web 2.0 theory is beyond doubt. Indeed, in recent years, Internet capabilities have emerged that can create a fundamentally new situation in the virtual space. Web 2.0 idea. not a rigid description of the coming reality, but rather an unformed premonition of it.
As it develops, the Internet, like a fairy-tale monster, gradually devours and absorbs various social institutions. At first these were institutions that solved simple problems - post office, auctions, shops, labor exchanges. Then more complex ones - media, education. Today the time has come when the quantity of accumulated opportunities must transform into a new quality. From cloning individual social institutions on the Internet, the world will come to the reconstruction of society itself, and the majority of socially active individuals will recreate themselves there, their social and creative capabilities.
The main goal of the professional activity of most people is to achieve positions of social status (consumption, prestige, power). As part of this process, the individual receives education and skills, realizes his social and creative potential. At the same time, he can perform a variety of functions: be a member of a free creative team, sell his work on the market, act as an investor or organizer of a business. In any case, all these processes are associated with establishing and maintaining communications with other individuals. Today, these communications are increasingly going online. Through it, people get jobs, receive distance education, and look for partners and investors.
Along with professional activities, most people participate to one degree or another in public life (for example, in elections of government bodies). And in this area, the Internet is becoming increasingly important. In many countries, e-democracy institutions are being developed and experiments are being undertaken with online voting in elections to various government bodies. People unite via the Internet to solve social problems, organize public events, etc. Moreover, the idea of creating Internet-based institutions of direct democracy, in which any user can take part, is becoming increasingly popular. Direct Internet democracy, according to a number of researchers, will eventually replace the current representative parliamentary one.
Thus, first simple services providing specific social communications go to the Internet, and then all basic public functions.
The Internet is a virtual clone of society
Having become a virtual reflection of society, the Internet begins to carry out its functions, ensures the achievement (reproduction) of positions of social status and creative self-realization of users.
Current trends in the virtual world, which are associated with the concept of “web 2.0.” - primarily the blogosphere, Wikipedia, various social networks - are already aimed at realizing creative and social motivation. By blogging, creating articles on Wikipedia, communicating with network partners, people not only fulfill the need for communications, but also receive creative satisfaction, establish social connections, and engage in self-presentation and self-PR that is useful for their career. Sometimes the results of social implementation through new Internet opportunities are amazing. The creators of social networks have been promoting them for several years and selling them for hundreds of millions of dollars. Participants in networks make their texts, songs, photographs, etc. popular through them. and become megastars.
The Internet is becoming a kind of clone of society, which absorbs a significant, and soon, perhaps, will be able to absorb a large part of social communications. Of course, virtual love will not replace real love, and traveling online will not replace visiting a theater or restaurant, but social communications, people’s presentation and sale of their capabilities and talents will probably be carried out primarily through the Internet.
E-society 2. - way out of the deadlock
The virtual world is awaiting rationalization, which involves a clear structuring of the information space. Today, all types of communications on the Internet are chaotically mixed. The same networks essentially perform the functions of a labor exchange, a magazine, an art exhibition, an interest club and a dating service. The Internet is becoming a mold of society, but in society the private and the social are demarcated in a certain way. When you get a job, you won't tell your boss about your love for aquarium fish; The girl you're dating is unlikely to be interested in your hard work on an antivirus computer program. On the other hand, anonymity and repeated “multiplying of entities” of social network participants devalue their information and clutter the information field. The eclecticism and anonymity that reign on the Internet prevent it from fully fulfilling the function of social presentation of individuals. The founding fathers of Web 2.0 also understand this. One of the founders of anonymous Wikipedia, Larry Sanger, is creating a new encyclopedia, Citizendium, in which authors of articles are required to sign their names. Another Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, co-authored the term web 2.0. Tim O'Reilly is working on a blogger code of conduct designed to define and streamline types of behavior in the blogosphere.
However, moves in the right direction are not radical enough. It is neither possible nor necessary to reform the Internet. There will always be a system of masks - nicknames, implementing the gaming motivations of users. However, within the framework of the existing large Internet, another may appear - the business Internet 2. or E-society 2. A network that exists according to its own principles that are optimal for the social and creative self-realization of participants. This network can be based on the transparency of the authorship of resources, the completeness and objectivity of the presentation of the social and creative capabilities of users.
Based on the principles of the E-society 2. a number of local specialized networks can be created. It is to be expected that a significant portion of the global Internet community will gradually become involved in these networks. networks built on the same principles will constitute the Internet 2. (business Internet), which will exist alongside the ongoing modern large Internet 1., which lives by different rules that help people obtain information, consume, personal and gaming communications.
The Internet primarily promotes corporations. Initially, as a social institution, it was tailored to their interests. However, with the development of information technology, the situation has changed. Thanks to the capabilities of the Internet, an increasing number of people are selling the results of their work outside of corporations, within teams created to solve specific problems, or individually. The capabilities of E-society 2. make it possible to make it a tool for promoting people, which is in demand by a larger number of stakeholders than realizing the interests of corporations.
What will the E-society 2 be like?
E-society 2. - a social network (or communities of networks), combining the capabilities of the current blogosphere and Wikipedia. Opportunities for creative self-expression and social self-presentation of participants, as in the blogosphere, are complemented by the free formation of background information about these same participants, as in Wikipedia. Each resource within the E-society network 2. is dedicated to the social presentation of a particular participant. Moreover, two resources are dedicated to each network participant: a person’s personal Internet resource, created and edited by him or her; a duplicate resource about a given person, organized and replenished by other Network participants.
A person himself can create and edit only one resource. This resource is his official representation on the Internet, proving his identity, like a driver's license or passport. In addition to the resource of the person himself, there must be a backup resource that tells about the person through the mouths of those who have information about him and have encountered him in social life (partners, competitors, friends and foes). Moreover, only participants of this network will be able to fill out the second resource, that is, those who have their own personal resource and a corresponding backup resource. The participant should know that if one of his network partners gave false information about him, he will be able to answer him not only on his resource, but also on the offender’s resource. In order to prevent insult, slander, and disclosure of details of private life, it is necessary to provide various options for editing duplicate resources by authorized representatives of the community.
A personal resource represents the social and creative capabilities of an individual. The backup resource forms his social reputation and makes it possible to objectively evaluate his self-presentation. Both resources are necessary for effective social interaction between individuals, their joint solution of social and creative problems, and the implementation of projects
A personal resource is created shortly after a person is born by his parents. At first they manage the resource themselves. And then, as they grow older, they teach them how to work with the child’s resource. Teaching a child communication and self-presentation via the Internet will become as necessary as teaching him to speak and interact with the world around him. Then distance education is carried out through the resource. Further, having become an adult, a person through him presents himself, his successes and achievements to the world. After a person enters conscious social life, community members create a duplicate resource about this person, which is updated by his partners and acquaintances (like a Wikipedia article).
A personal resource, which is essentially an Internet clone of a person, earns positions of social status for its owner in two ways:
1. Directly through placing advertisements and banners of other resources on it. The more interesting a person is to society, the more popular his site is, the more expensive the links placed on it are.
2. Through the presentation of a person’s social and creative capabilities, ensuring his social interaction with other members of society. For example, with the help of self-presentation on a personal resource, partners are sought to create creative teams, labor is sold, investors are found for developed projects or projects for available investment resources.
1. Personality. All resources are personalized, dedicated to a specific person who does not hide his name.
2. Multilingualism. Resources should be automatically translated into a number of the world's major languages. The labor market is internationalizing; it is irrational to isolate oneself in one language environment. The larger the market in which a person sells his capabilities, the higher the price he can get for them. Technically, this task is easily achievable. Automatic translation programs are being improved. Those who want their resource translated into other languages can exchange their linguistic capabilities with other network participants or buy their work.
3. Multimedia. The presentation of creative and social opportunities will be carried out through various types of information media: texts, clips, music, graphics, paintings, photographs. The ongoing increase in the conducting capacity of the Internet will provide more and more opportunities for this.
A personal website maintained by a person includes standard options: biography, detailed portfolio, creative achievements and opportunities, offers for partners, intellectual and aesthetic collections. Society cannot exist without a parade of vanity, demonstrative behavior of its most socially successful members. 2. A VIP segment will appear in the Internet community, presenting the material capabilities of socially successful users. Such self-presentation may include complex computer graphics, websites in the form of houses with numerous themed rooms, virtual collections of clothing, music, films, cars; sophisticated multimedia functions and other exclusive, expensive technological features. The emergence of closed communication networks for the rich, a kind of “virtual Rublyovka”, is also likely.
Today, rich people, especially in developing countries, like to compare the “coolness” of yachts and palaces with each other. Tomorrow they will also boast to their E-society partners 2. about the most sophisticated graphics and expensive technological capabilities of their personal websites.
From local networks to global E-society 2.
At the beginning of the process of forming Internet-2, local specialized networks created on new principles should appear. For example, including those who are already working, looking for partners, selling their own or buying someone else’s work on the Internet (designers, systems engineers, content specialists, online journalists, etc.). This constantly growing market segment is most interested in responsible personal communications with potential partners. Participation in the E-society 2. will provide a unique opportunity to promote your own capabilities, quickly receive maximum objective information about potential partners and investors, and evaluate their business reputation and creative success.
It may also be promising, as mentioned above, to create a closed community of people with high incomes. Their interest is a new form of social presentation of their own material capabilities, communication in their elite circle.
Another promising topic is creating a community of children and teenagers from different cities and countries. It is possible to organize a community like “World Virtual Kindergarten” or “World Scout Camp”. In addition to the necessary training of children in Internet communication skills, such a network will be able to perform even more important functions. It will allow them to get used to the rapidly globalizing world in time, become its full-fledged citizens, and adapt to the new reality that erases borders and language barriers.
E-society 2. - the basis for a democratic Internet revolution
Free access to the Internet for all members of society makes the prospect of a transition of society from representative to direct democracy realistic; situations when the role of parliament and legislative bodies can be performed by all interested citizens. The Internet gives all users the technical opportunity to discuss, vote and pass laws in real time, to quickly respond to the emergence of a particular problem - that is, to actually act as deputies of modern parliaments. The order and organization of work will be monitored by moderators elected by participants in the virtual parliament - users of this resource. Thus, specialized social networks may replace modern parliaments. However, these networks cannot operate according to the rules that exist on the modern Internet, where it is impossible to ensure the correctness of voting on the principle of one person, one vote.
E-society 2. is intended to become the basis for the implementation of a social Internet revolution, leading to the establishment of direct Internet democracy. The emergence of E-society 2. thanks to its rule “one person - one personal resource” eliminates the problems associated with possible abuses, incl. multiple voting on the same issue, but under different nicknames.
The development of E-society 2. will create an opportunity for the formation of parallel official, virtual democratic institutions of power. Specialized networks of E-society 2. will be able to become a kind of city, regional or republican Internet parliaments - fundamentally new institutions of direct democracy.
The new social Internet revolution may develop as follows. At its first stage, there will be a kind of dual power between online and offline (official) authorities. Once the majority of members of a particular society begin to participate in the formation of power through E-society 2., its traditional representative bodies of power will lose legitimacy as less democratic and representative. The need for their existence will simply disappear. They will only have to approve their powers and transfer power to the bodies of direct Internet democracy. All citizens online through the E-community 2 will be able to participate in discussions and decision-making in the virtual open parliament. There will be a transition of real control levers to the institutes of direct plebiscite Internet democracy.
This situation, of course, seems fantastic today. However, the speed of change in modern society can ensure the implementation of the most daring forecasts. At first, small highly developed countries, such as Iceland, Norway, New Zealand, and individual cantons of Switzerland, can go along this path. And then the world Internet revolution can apply to other developed countries.