The Ubiquitous Web
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Google?s CEO, Eric Schmidt, sees a future where mobile phones are free to consumers who accept watching targeted forms of advertising. He said that as mobile phones become more like handheld computers and consumers spend as much as eight to 10 hours a day talking, texting and using the Web on these devices, advertising becomes a viable form of subsidy.
The popular travel site is now available for your mobile device giving travel itinerary, flight status, hotel deals and availabilty for same-day travel and much more.
ActiveSync has been been pushed aside for what Microsoft is calling Windows Mobile Device Center (or WMDC for short) which on paper, is looking to be easier for the end user and IT departments to install and maintain.
“The Ubiquitous Web” is the theme for XTech 2007 to be held in Paris, France from 15 to 18 May 2007. The Call for Participation reads as follows:
As the web reaches further into our lives, we will consider the increasing ubiquity of connectivity, what it means for real world objects to connect with the web, and the increasing blurring of the lines between virtual worlds and our own.
The technologies underpinning these developments include mobile devices, RFID, Second Life, location-aware services, Google Earth and more. The issues surrounding them include privacy, intellectual property, activism, politics, regulation and standards.
These leading edge thinkers are clearly ready to tackle some very tough problems. For many, this ubiquity of connectivity will start from their mobile device since that will be their most frequent companion. This ubiquitous connectivity will be possible provided the One Web Principle as proposed by the W3C Mobile Web Best Practices document is in full operation everywhere. This requires that content provided by accessing a URI yields a thematically coherent experience when accessed from different devices. In other words, a bookmark captured on one device should be usable on another, different type of device even if it does not yield exactly the same experience.
Others are not sure that this can be achieved. Luca Passani among others is particularly critical of the One Web Principle. He has an alternative approach as set out in Global Authoring Practices for the Mobile Web. As he says, “I understand that W3C is all about the Web and some may dream about a unified Web which can be accessed with equal ease by PCs and mobile devices, but this is just a dream: Web and Mobile will remain separate media for many, many years to come (probably more). There are three big reasons for this: technological, consumer-driven and industry related.”
In summary, he is saying that new devices are always being introduced, consumers are not looking for this thematic consistency and industry sees no moneymaking possibilities in its application. Instead he is suggesting an emphasis on adaptation, whereby the server will adapt its output to the device, based on the characteristics of the device. This process is assisted by a resource he and others have developed, WURFL or Wireless Universal Resource File, which catalogues the characteristics of all devices. This certainly sounds like a plausible alternative way of getting to the ubiquitous Web.
Whichever way the ubiquitous Web is achieved, it still seems unlikely that a single URI can be used as a bookmark so that servers provide an acceptable user experience to any of the many devices. Much more practicable is the Multi-Web Practice suggested here in StayGoLinks whereby website owners arrange a series of associated web pages for all the major types of devices that may need to be served. If these are listed within an AGI (Array of Graphic Identifiers) as a bookmark that includes the separate URIs for each of the device-friendly web pages, then the device can select the URI that is most appropriate for it.
In the longer term, perhaps the ubiquitous Web will be achieved with much more exotic technologies. In the near future, the Multi-Web Practice seems a more useful and rapid way of making progress to achieve that desired ubiquitous connectivity.
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November 15th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
[...] A Public Diary On The Way To A Patent « The Ubiquitous Web [...]
November 17th, 2006 at 11:16 am
[...] Barry Welford presents The Ubiquitous Web posted at StayGoLinks. saying, “The Ubiquitous Web describes efforts to ensure that all can be in touch and stay in contact with the Internet whatever device they are using, whether it be cell phone or desktop PC.” [...]
November 19th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
[...] Barry Welford has an interesting and carefully reasoned blog on mobile computing called StayGoLinks.?In it he?writes that the theme for XTech 2007 Conference, to be held in Paris in May, is The Ubiquitous Web.?That is?also the title of his blog entry. He explains, “The Ubiquitous Web describes efforts to ensure that all can be in touch and stay in contact with the Internet whatever device they are using, whether it be cell phone or desktop PC.” The problem in his view is there are no common standards, and his blog proposes a temporary solution, the Multi-web Practice. [...]
November 20th, 2006 at 9:06 am
[...] As we all work towards the Ubiquitous Web, we should trumpet the news as the walls keep tumbling down. [...]
November 20th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
[...] The Ubiquitous Web StayGoLinks: In this forward looking post, Barry Welford makes this key observation: ?For many, this ubiquity of connectivity will start from their mobile device since that will be their most frequent companion.? [...]
November 22nd, 2006 at 11:50 am
[...] Mobile Device Detection is a thorny problem on the road to the Ubiquitous Web. Brian Fling of Mobile Design has a good description of this in an item entitled The Mobile Device Detection Problem. The aim is that a website owner should be able to deliver content to whatever mobile device the visitor may be using. This is done by detecting the type of mobile device and delivering an appropriate version of the content. The item points out the difficulties in doing that for most developers. [...]
January 25th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
[...] The other factor is that many involved have lived through the Internet tidal wave and may see all this from their Desktop PC perspective. That One Web should just spread out so that it becomes the Ubiquitous Web. Doesn’t that seem a natural evolution to follow? Well natural evolution is fine provided we don’t run into a disruptive technology that changes all the ground rules. It may even be so cataclysmic that it deserves the title, transformational technology. Some observers would apply that description to the whole Mobile world. [...]
December 20th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
[...] Barry Welford presents The Ubiquitous Web posted at StayGoLinks, saying, “The Ubiquitous Web describes efforts to ensure that all can be in touch and stay in contact with the Internet whatever device they are using, whether it be cell phone or desktop PC.” [...]