The Next Generation of the Web: The Humanized Web

Abstract

An American computer scientist and a pioneer of object-oriented programming and window-based graphical user interface design Alan Curtis Kay remarked about technological developments in 1971 that “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.”¹ In this endeavor, understanding that the web will keep evolving is important, though trying to predict when certain developments might occur is usually only guesswork. This is especially so because things that are perceived as good are expected to happen right away, like a child who wants promised sweets immediately rather than after a meal. Still, even though it is difficult to forecast future developments, and in particular their timing, it is important to prepare for the future web.