Elon University

Subtopic: General

Why the Web?

The Web will reflect humanity if we put our lives online. Putting our lives online does not mean leading our lives online; it is about utilizing unprecedented sharing. We interact in the real world, and we use cyberspace to collaborate and share and conjure new possibilities. Do we want to see ourselves, joys and sorrows, reflected in cyberspace, or do we want an easier mall? Not that both won’t exist, but when you sit down to craft your page, take into account which you’d rather see.

Andy Grove

Looking ahead to the world of electronic meetings, we see big opportunities both in powerful processors and in other products that turn the world’s 100-million-plus PCs into multi-faceted communication devices.

The Future of the Net – As it Pertains to Lawyers

There is sure to be more order in the future on the Net. Maybe more law and order. There could hardly be less. To comfort those who might mourn the prospect of the loss of spontaniety and formless emergence that characterized the early electronic frontier, some have postulated the possibility of preserving some “electronic wilderness.” Even that will, however, be set aside and protected by law.

The Future of the Net – As it Pertains to Lawyers

We will of course develop conventions and shorthand rules and other ways of signalling understanding of context with minimum data transfer. These emerging conventions will help experienced users know when they have entered into an agreement, what kinds of protections to expect from others in a particular place, and what kinds of services are offered by various parties. They will help to determine what actions are reasonable in any given context. They will also lead to more disputes.

Net Gains: Information, Technology & Culture; Breaking the Box

The future of media will see the further ascendancy of the word. As screens improve their resolution, they will increasingly compete with paper as a high-contrast, flicker-free vessel for text. Great cities will hollow out, as the best and brightest in them retreat to rural redoubts and reach out to global markets and communities.