Technology directions

The Internet is becoming a necessary tool for communication, where technological, social and commercial advancement is making the Web a more useful and accessible tool.

1998 will see the growth of "the individual" on the Internet. People are becoming impassioned to express their individuality online.GeoCities and Mining Company have already created places where individuals create their own personal web sites, and the numbers are staggering. The web will further deliver on its promise to draw communities of *like minds* together from around the world in the way that Tripod has succeeded in doing.(10 predictions for 1999 - http://www.techmall.com/techdocs/TS971215-9.html)

While the Internet offers a way of communication for everyone, it also encourages communication between all individuals. People of similar backgrounds, ethnic communities, cultural groups, businesses and their customers...they are already talking now through Internet Relay Chat (the biggest talk show on Earth!), using online Bulletin Boards and Newsgroups, meeting upclose and personal through ICQ, or conducting long-distance virtual meetings with video conferencing for the cost of a local phone call.

Consumers have long been told of a time when they will be able to inexpensively access a wireless internet, and experience true freedom. In 1997, Metricom modems and the Palmpilot introduced this daily freedom to those with a less constrained pocketbook. "In 1998," said Wang, "the average consumer will be able to start the day off by checking voice mail, email, and the latest news on the Internet all from an affordable hand-held communication access tool while waiting for breakfast at the corner cafe." (http://www.techmall.com/techdocs/TS971215-9.html)

Internet technology is now far-reaching, and the development of better communication infrastructures means that more and more complex content will be easily adapted to the web.

Right now, most residential users can tap on the Internet via modems, through skinny telephone wires which channel data at maximum rate of 56,000 bits a second. Broadband technology promises to push data up to 200 times faster, using DSL technology and satellites TV-signals. (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/990201/1exci.htm)

Such broad bandwidth will allow streaming video clips and video conferencing become commercially viable. This means that you can arrange and participate
in video conferencing right from your office and that you can
introduce your products in a brief (30 second) video clip from
your site. These developments are only possible because of the
improved bandwidth. (10 Fearless predictions for 1999 - http://www.incor.com/webdev/10_fearless_internet_predictions.htm)

Imagine a this scenario: A visiting business representative is at the Sydney airport, on his way to Brisbane. He logs in through the airport's online touch-screen kiosk, and finds out the current weather conditions for brisbane, the exact map location of the meeting place, and how to get there. If he decides to rent a car for the day, he can do so online - pay through Mastercard or Visa, and get the computer to indicate the best way to go from the Airport to the hotel, and then to the meeting place. He prints the map out, and since he has got some time up his sleeve, proceeds to watch video clips showing what Brisbane city has to offer to the tourist.

The Internet is coming towards a complete integration of all systems and departments. Transport information (traffic reports, bus timetables), businesses online, secure transactions - they all encourage the usage of the Internet as a one-stop shop for all the individual's needs.

Software technologies such as Macromedia's Flash Generator, combined with the growing usage of automated databases offer up-to-date information on the weather, the stock exchange, the current state of power and water accounts, and even how many complaints have been filed against barking dogs within the Brisbane City area. Web cams located at strategic points over the main streets could give a visual update of traffic at any point in time.

The technology would benefit in-house intranets, public subscribers, and allied organisations. At an internal level, every department's repository of information would be interlinked via databases (ASP, SSI) allowing the relevant members to have access and update information with greate ease. Individual meetings could be staged between departments as easily as reading email - RealAudio, streaming video and Web Cams offer sounds and visuals - including interactive 'drawing boards'. Web telephony even allows phonecalls between computers, from computer to telephone, voice-mail messages and answering services.

The subscribers will benefit from ease of access to the web, and the amount of information available. Web TV is bringing the computer to the living room, allowing the user to switch between the ABC, Channel 7 and the "Event's Page" of the Council's web site. Furthermore, interactive TV will allow the user to watch an advertisement on a particular South Bank event, and then click on a link to the Council pages, with information about prices, location, times, transport available and the shortest route between your house and the South Bank Parklands.

Disabled people will benefit of the web inside and outside the house. Online grocery shopping is already available for those who have trouble leaving the house. Design for visually impaired people will be the same as for web-phone pages, which will generally depart only slightly from visual interfaces, thanks to Screen Readers. Information on disabled car-parking and facilities will also be readily available.

Third parties would also benefit from the Internet development. Businesses, Power and Water Authorities, the Police.

Vector-based information (Flash, PDF, VRML) has got tremendous potential. American Web site "MapBlast" (http://www.mapblast.com/mapblast/start.hm) shows complete maps of the city, pointing out where the cultural centres are. It also offers a facility that finds out the closest drive route from any one point to another. It offers nearby WEATHER, NEWS, TV listings, or SATELLITE views, with Zoom in and out capabilities. This, combined with 3D capabilities (VRML, Java, QuickTimeVR) allow visitors to the "Rome Village" (jefferson.village.virginia.edu/rome/query3.html) to view Rome's map with topography and street grids, or 'walk' through the corridors of the Virtual Museum of Art (www.tp.net/tp/users/koconnor/Building.html), which could easily be the City Hall's gallery.

Businesses could view their earnings for the year, or the amout of visitors their shop has had within the last month, or the relation between people visiting the Queensland Art Museum and the people visiting the South Bank Parklands in 3D generated charts. And, more importantly, they will benefit from a new emerging type of Web Consultancy - Web Analysis.

The sheer size of information on the Web makes it paramount to offer the user a direct access to the information they seek; new search engine software, methodology, and the use of AI (artificial intelligence) means the days of looking through pages and pages of useless information are over. How to seek for information on Olive Oil and avoid getting pages about Pop-eye's girlfriend? The future is here. AltaVista already supports 'real human' expressions in the search fields - "Where can I find pictures of Brisbane City?" and offer answers. "Visit *this* page in the Brisbane City Council's web site".

Then, the final and most important function a web site will offer, is feedback. Full reports on the background of the visitors to the site, the time they spend on each page, what information they access the most, which geographical area they access the information from, and much more - such reports are already available. The future will see even more complete reports, which will adapt the web site content and navigation automatically, and even customise it for each individual user.