Humour

Ready for the Live Web?

T A Balasubramanian’s take on the wild, untamed Internet space

Once again, it is time for another dose of arcane wisdom from the bubbling imagination of Dr Don Jong, as he wanders into the curious world of Bobo Jitter, the edgy CIO at Bazooka Corporation. Fondly called ‘The Oddfather’ because of the devious solutions he offers, Dr Jong is known for his unorthodox techniques to bring back sanity to the lopsided frontiers of IT.

“Ah, Bobo, you appear to have some matter gnawing intensely on your mind today, eh? So what is it that is making you look so glum, if I may ask?” says Dr Jong, with a serene smile.

“There is too much of this new technology buzz going on, Doc,” says Bobo, waving his hands around nervously. “And I feel that it is all happening too quickly for me to wrap my hands around.”

“Relax, Bobo. It is not as if we are unused to the buzzing by now. So what noise are we agitated about?”

“The endless sound of Web 2.0 buzz. And it seems like history repeating itself from the late 1990s, when everybody in every business was scrambling for an Internet strategy, a Web presence and an online initiative that would work 24 by 7 by 365. ‘If you do not have your company on the Web, you are extinct’ said the prophets, echoing the underlying sentiment. It seems that these same crystal-ball gazers are back in business these days.”

“Ah, so we have a new paradigm that looks suspiciously like the old paradigm with a raincoat?”

“Well, nobody knows for sure if it is paradigm or a parachute. Looking back on the old days, I think it was much simpler to just get on the Web and be online with an unfussy site compared to making a company Web 2.0 ready.”

“And why do you say that?”

“Because, according to the paradigm gurus, this involves comprehending a nebulous idea called Enterprise 2.0. Every other CIO I meet is getting carried away with the euphoria being built around everything 2.0. They are, I suspect being compelled, driven, pushed or even shamed into saying, ‘Oh, yes, we have evolved our Web 2.0 strategy and we are getting ready for launching our new Enterprise 2.0.’ ”

“Is there a simple definition of this Web 2.0?”

“Well, Doc, despite thousands of blog pages devoted to Web 2.0, I think the simplest definition comes from a popular news magazine which is good at bringing the hype to the masses—and they simply re-christened Web 2.0 as the ‘Live Web’ to make it comprehensible to the average non-techie.”

“Ah, that is good for guys like me who find version numbers incomprehensible. Personally, I am appalled by Web 2.0 as a term, but ‘Live Web’—now that is appealing. I will be using that in future.”

“Well, Doc, so the Live Web conveys, no doubt, that all along, the Web has not been—a live thing?”

“That’s right. What makes the new Web come alive is, quite simply, all of us—as social animals. We participate in this paradigm, most often at broadband speed, and we are present constantly. Thanks to our activity, the Live Web has replaced telephones, and it is perhaps in the process of replacing television as well. It is like an open club with all kinds of wise and entertaining people sitting around in lounges ready to chat with you—except that this club is spread all over the planet.”

“I see what you mean. It is now the place I go to for Googling answers to any questions that trouble me—and I get these almost instantly. I cannot imagine my parents coming even come close to matching that when I used to badger them with questions as a kid.”

“Quite so, Bobo. The Live Web brings you the distilled wisdom of many. It is the harnessing of collective intelligence. Sounds lofty, I know, but it is actually happening all the time here. Every time you type in a search query on Google, you launch a worldwide club operation to see which other sites people on the Web have considered to be relevant to that term. Amazingly, it gives you a nifty report that no amount of hands-on work by an army of Jeeves clones could have managed.”

“It seems that we have many hands making light work for everyone.”

“That’s true, my boy. It is evident the Live Web is congenial to the wisdom of crowds. According to the journalist James Surowiecki, author of the book ‘The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations,’ your average gang of people can estimate the weight of a printer or predict a sporting event’s outcome better than an expert can. So hundreds of bloggers can be an alternative to even the finest journalists, and that if millions of eyes monitor and edit entries, anyone can write and rewrite a Wikipedia that can rival the Encyclopedia Britannica.”

“It gives us freedom as well, Doc. Maybe too much of it.”

“Look at the bright side. You no longer have to be a passive consumer. You need not just order pre-designed music from a shelf—you can find entertainment sites here where you can make your own music videos. You need not be a passive news consumer waiting for your edited daily tabloid to arrive—you can voice your opinion and send it all over the world on your personal media at any time, as many times as you want. As we keep shifting our activities to the Live Web, and keep adding previously unthinkable new pursuits where we shape what we want, maybe it would be right to say that our everyday existence would become like the weaving of a network quilt that each of us can fashion to our personal taste. It is the ultimate do-it-yourself club.”

“I am sure all this interactivity has made some splendid opportunities for smart, nimble new companies, Doc. But it shakes me up—after all Bazooka is a traditional old business—and I have just about got used to having Internet access all the time. We are still dealing with the nuts and bolts of being an Enterprise 1.0 company.”

“Ah, this is where reality meets the hype, my boy. The Live Web is, after all the wild, untamed Internet space—which is so different from your corporate space. Nobody says that you have to replicate the entire Club 2.0 inside Bazooka. That would be a surefire recipe for chaos. Like they say, the devil is in the details.”

“What do you mean, Doc?”

“Well, even the rampant Live Web has rules. Wikipedia has a very robust list of controls and layers of user participation. It has evolved from years of review, moderation, editing and approvals. It is not just a seething mass of thousands of people mass collaborating to create the perfect knowledge base. So even if you feel pushed by the gung-ho supporters of the Live Web who say they have moved on and left you behind, you have no reason to despair. People do want to share. They want collaboration, full time. They want all that kind of stuff. And you can roll it in, one step at a time. After all the Live Web is going to be around and kicking for a long, long, time.”

“That’s right, Doc. I think I’ll mention that in my blog.”