Homo Ludens
What will the independent web of the future be like? In very many ways it will still be like the web of yesterday and today. It will be a place for closet poets and undiscovered artists to present their work to the world, in hopes that someone someplace will discover them.
And what will the independent web of the future look like? As broadband becomes more available and the technology for designing websites advances, the face of the Internet will shift to something more akin to a virtual reality game. Ten years from now, no longer will we be sitting in front of monitors to surf the web. We will have goggles to wear that will provide the visual data to our eyes, allowing us to feel as if we are moving within the website of the future. The pointing device of the future will be worn as a glove. More then just point and click, it will provide feedback for each of our actions, and give us a sense of virtual touch.
As a digital graphic artist, I look forward to a point in time where I can present my creations in a manner that will allow the viewer to see them as I first created them, and not in the flat, compressed, colorless format of today's presentationsn of the web. The graphic format of the future will give texture to colors, and tactile form to 3D objects.
I would so much enjoy a website where not only could I see the written word, but I could hear a writer recite his prose and poetry with the beat and emotions that he created it to express. Today this can only be accomplished with very limited sound bites, and even these can take forever to download. In the future, improved broadband and superior sound compression methods will create a new generation that will be unable to imagine a silent Internet.
The independent web has always been the playground of those who explore the cutting edge. In the future this will be no different. The cutting edge is where the future web will first appear, and in some ways it is already making itself known today.
But most of all, the independent web of the future will offer the same opportunities as the independent web of today. It will be a place for anyone to publish anything on the Internet for the whole world to see, without the fear of rejection by some nameless, faceless editor. It will for all time allow for the uncensored publication of works that might other wise never see the light of day. For that reason if for no other the independent web is truly unique, and always will be.
