🚀 go-pugleaf

Many companies invest in the internet and/or change their image to get 
it associated with the Internet. People find the Internet super. People
invest their knowledge and career in the Internet. Marketing promotes it. 
Everything which is Internet means freedom, flexibility, etc.. 
But a dark side of the internet sometimes surfaces.

Some questions appeared to my mind and I meditated on them.

The answers to these questions should permit to have a
quite good picture of the situation. 

(Place of the Internet in the society)
1.  What is the place of the Internet in our society ? 
    (personal, politic, social, media, economic)
2.  What if tomorrow the internet ceased to exist ?
3.  What is the picture people have of the Internet ?
4.  Which picture is presented to the average Internet user ?
    Which role is the marketing playing in creating or 
    influencing this picture ? How ? Is this picture correct ?
5.  What drives people to the Internet ?
6.  How do people use the Internet ?
7.  What are the consequences of the Internet on the society ? 
    Why ? Was it meant like that ?
8.  Do the Internet and the future evolution takes the social, political, 
    economical, ethical, legal, etc.. effects on the society into account ?
9.  How can the Internet psychologically/physiologically/mentally 
    influence a person ? Are there benefits ? Dangers ?

(Evaluation of the Internet itself)
10. What are the strengths of the Internet ?
11. Why do these strengths exists ?
12. What are the weaknesses and problems ?
    What are the causes ? ..and what are the causes of these causes ?
13. How can the Internet be improved ?
14. How do we solve these problems ? Do solutions exist ? 
    Can we prevent them ? 

(The Internet and the user)
15. Does the Internet satisfy our needs ?
16. Does the Internet satisfy our wishes ?
17. Is the use efficient ? Which manipulations are efficient ? 
    Which aren't ? Why ? How efficient can it be ? 
18. Are the resources efficiently used ? Which are and which aren't ?
19. How do we rate the quality ? (speed, development technologies, 
    contents, services,...) 
    (BTW, I searched a few days ago during one hour for a good 
    definition of "IT" .. without satisfying result !!!)

(The evolution of the Internet)
20. How did the Internet change from its birth until now ?
21. What are the tendencies we can notice in the evolution ?
22. What can we expect in the future ? 
23. Did the Internet evolve as expected ?
24. What drives the Internet in growing ?
25. What drives the evolution (changes) of the Internet ? 
    Are these constant and reliable forces ?
26. Can we say that this evolution is planned and under control ?
27. Does the evolution need to be controlled and planned ?
28. How can the evolution of the Internet be controlled and/or improved ?

(Building upon the Internet)
29. Is the Internet stable ? Can this be improved or solved ? How ?
30. Is the evolution of the Internet stable, moving to one single 
    direction ? 
31. Is the Internet under (sufficient) control ?  If not, can this 
    be improved or solved ? How ?
32. Is the Internet (enough) secure ? Can this be improved or solved ? How ?
33. Do users have control over their actions and the result of it ?
34. Are people able to manage with technologies ?
35. Are they aware of what they are dealing with ?
36. Do new technology really bring some benefit ? Which ones ?
37. In what degree can what we learned from software engineering is/be 
    applied in the conception of Internet technologies/Internet projects ?

(Developments with the Internet)
38. How does the global Internet architecture and technologies 
    look like ? well designed? well structured? following standards? 
    fragmented? completely elaborated or quick patches? is the 
    cooperation between the different technologies not as smooth 
    and easy ? 
39. Do the development of websites and webapplication follow the 
    principles well known in software engineering ?

(some other questions)
40. Is privacy respected ?
41. What are the advantages and disadvantages of anonymity ?
42. Is anonymity necessary ?
43. Is it possible to eliminate anonymity but still respecting 
    privacy ? (my answer on this is "yes")
44. Are laws and Internet cops efficient ? What is the expected 
    evolution on this ?
45. Is spamming, DOS-attacks, viruses, lack of protection for 
    children, etc.. acceptable ? In a world of "new technologies" 
    is there no technology which can solve this problem ? In that 
    case can we pretend to master the technology ? Is this a lack
    of quality ? 

Can we rely on the Internet and its future ?
Can we fully invest and continue to build upon the Internet ?
Are the Internet technologies full-blown and mature ?
Do we take the technology serious enough ?


Honestly, after answering those questions I am rather skeptic 
about the future of the Internet (not so much about the hardware 
technology, but about the software side).
At the moment, it appears to me that marketing is pushing the
technologies. A mass of people who are not enough introduced in 
the world of IT (technical knowledge) follow the marketing's
picture and the technology. Companies follow the marketing, 
the huge mass of people and the technologies. We have a kind
of circle here. This dynamic forms a huge wave.
But if the Internet is a big wave, what will happen when this big 
wave will reach the shore ?


Though, I know that by changing some basic principles a lot 
of solutions can be found.

These questions are meant for meditation alone, with friends,
colleagues, newsgroups etc.. but not really to send me 
your answers. 
If internet is the future, take your time to meditate the future.
Run through the questions several times, since answers on one
question may influence an answer on a previous question.
If you find this list of questions interesting, mail it to 
your friends.

The search for answers (and new questions) can start.  ;-)

Best regards,

Axel Vanhooren.

e-mail: Axel_dot_Vanhooren@Village.Uunet.Be 
        (replace '_dot_' by a real dot)
http://itprojmngt.8m.net