People, Places, and Things: The Next Generation Web

(Figure)

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| James Gwertzman        | Margo Seltzer           |
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| Microsoft Corporation  | Harvard University      |
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| JamesGw@microsoft.com  | margo@eecs.harvard.edu  |
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World-Wide Web is Antisocial

o Great for things o Not a true place o No people in evidence

(Figure)


We Need a Social Web

o Current model is a giant Coffee table book ...

o Right model is a museum or classroom

o Interact with people as you browse


We Need People

o A Person is uniquely identified

o A Person has attributes


We Need Places

o A Place contains both People and Things

o A Place has attributes


Getting Technical

o We need some infrastructure


Getting Technical (cont)

o We need to enhance web browsers and servers


Prototype

(Figure)


Authentication

o Solves certain problems:

o Turn it off to be anonymous


Planned Uses

o Classroom office hours

o Building online communities

o Makes web more attractive to beginners

Other Online Communities

o WorldsAway, MUD's, Habitat, The Palace, etc. o Pros: o Cons:

Future Research

o Apply architecture theory to place design o Community in VRML?

o What is ideal user interface?