The Future-- It's about "Your Internet"
Chris Shipley, of Demo fame and co-founder of the GuideWire Group consultancy in San Francisco is head down putting the finishing touches on the Fall Demo2007 show, which kicks off in a few weeks.
One of the themes of the forthcoming show could be "Your Internet." It's a classification that covers a lot of companies and technologies. But more importantly it makes a phrase i dislike immensely, "Web 2.0"
What Ms Shipley is doing is highlighting a group of technologies that enable individual and business users by letting them personalize their various approaches to Internet use.
I can't think of a broader or more interesting topic.
If you look at Internet usage today most of what you find is a one-way conduit that responds to individual user interest-based queries. Very few people, however have optimized their Internet experience to accommodate the multiple conduits that quenches their thirst for knowledge or discrete chunks of data.
When it comes to "Your (My) Internet" I'm probably at the extreme edge of eclecticism.
1. I am heavily involved in the construction of a major addition to my home here in Escondido that my 89 year old mother will hopefully move into by early winter. This requires that I stay in touch with my contractor and designer on a daily basis. I prefer that most of the communication I receive in this form come to me as some type of electronic data form, and I really wish that the data would show up as "completed" or "further action required" in the lengthy check list I maintain for this project.
What I really want far exceeds the capabilities of Word or other text editing applications. And I want the Internet as its primary transport mechanism. In reading a buddy's blog this week I was forced to acknowledge that the best electronic reader I've come across so far isn't a packable Palm device, but rather my Thinkpad X60 convertible, which is portable and rugged enough that I take it with me whenever I go outside to talk to my contractor. I'm not just reading text files on its screen, I'm pulling up architectural drawings, plot maps and other rich types of non-text data. And, I have to rely on the data to avoid encroaching on easements, hidden utility lines or my beloved but often abused by my lawn tractor irrigation lines. My tablet computer is not only an electronic reader, it's become my repository and display system for every single element of MaForbes' new living space.
To accomplish this important task I an;t be tied to a desk or confined to the approx 200-foot radius of my Wifi network. The limited range of most current 802.11 g and n networks is one of the gating factors in where and on what platform I get access to critical information. Yes, I know cell-based data networking could free me from the confines of the limited range of 802.11 networks. But unlike avocados here, money doesn't grow on trees and I just don't have the financial resources to spend $70 or $80 a month for wide areal wireless networking and I know I"m not the only thrifty person with a portable computer that believes the next big step in personal productivity gains will come with less costly persistent, high speed Internet connectivity.
My love of fishing is another great example of My Internet usage. I've waste a lot of time and wantonly slaughtered a lot of innocent sardines and anchovies fishing for yellowtail in off shore areas that lack at least two of the key requirements--water temp and the presence of bait fish at the edge of "structures" such as kelp forests-- to attract and hold my favorite tuna subspecies. What I have done to improve my chances of catching yellowtail and the infrequent yellowfin tuna is set up alerts tied to NOAA and other buoy networks that report weather/sea conditions in real time. When the water temp exceeds a certain point, I get an incoming alert. Then I hitch up my boat, fuel, launch and take on $25-$20 worth of bait and join the parade of other fishermen waiting for a hook up.
Hey, my system seems to work quite handily and its based on "My Internet" an not that of some Biz School grad who's never swung a framing hammer or tied a sharp hook to a leader with a blood knot in a rolling sea using a small flashlight gripped firmly in their mouth.
And, if you don't like "My Internet," go out and build one that suits your use. Ahoy mateys!--Jim Forbes 08/14/2007
