Looking toward the future

According to Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, the future of the World Wide Web depends primarily on two things: technological protocols and social conventions. The main difference between these two aspects of the web are that one is the interactions between the actual machines and the other is the interactions between the people using these machines and all of their capabilities (i.e. the Internet). Together, though, they make up what is called Web Science.

Web Science, as stated by Berners-Lee, is "the science and engineering of this massive system for the common good."

So how do these two factors create a technology that can be used for the common good?

From the technological aspect, the need for a protocol is imperative for obvious reasons. Of course, it is important to have computers that are functioning properly with systems such as the web and the Internet that function properly in order for them to be most effective. There is always room for improvement, so it is exciting to think about how far we've come in just a decade, and how far we can go in the coming decades with our ever-growing technological capabilities. In respect to digital journalism, technological protocol is important for providing readers with accurate and well put-together stories. There are always going to be publishing issues, especially when publishing to a virtually brand new medium such as the web -- things like broken links, coding errors or formatting errors. With the refinement of these technological protocols, the digital news environment can thrive and continue to explore new possibilities.

From the social aspect, it's pretty simple. With an every expanding realm of technology, the ability of people to communicate over the web is becoming easier and more efficient. We went from email to instant messaging to picture messaging to iChat and video messaging. However, not only does this idea encompasses the way we communicate through technology, but how we conduct ourselves when doing so. Again, this affects the digital news environment by opening up the possibilities of what is covered in digital news and how the information is presented to readers.

Overall, Web Science is a science worth studying, not only for digital journalists, but for anyone who owns and operates some type of computer on a consistent basis.