Like the wheel, the plough, and steam power before it, the Web is truly a differentiating tool in our world. The Web has changed the very ways in which we interact with each other, our surroundings, and our socioeconomic systems. However, unlike the great technologies that have come before it, the phenomenal growth and complexity of the Web are starting to outstrip our capability to control it directly. A set of recently emerged characteristics and behaviors that we have not programmed individually are starting to increase in number and strength. This has lead some to believe that the Web not only has its own life, but may also now be worthy of being considered a living organism in its own right; a new post-human species consisting of just one isolated member.
Has the Web evolved into a new life form? THE WEB’S AWAKE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD OF WEB SCIENCE AND THE CONCEPT OF WEB LIFE (Wiley-IEEE Press; April 2007; 264 Pages; $49.95; Cloth; 978-0-470-13794-9) is a fascinating examination of the virtual anatomy of the Web. Incorporating the perspective that the Web is moving towards independence, Philip Tetlow argues that understanding the Web’s evolution as an act of nature enables us to better harness the Web’s resources for the good of society. He presents theories and patterns originating in the natural sciences, mathematics, and information technology, connecting them to the bewildering properties of the complex, entangled systems found on the Web. By referencing material from a broad range of fields, the book offers a collage of interlinked facts, assertions, and coincidences that boldly point to a Web with a powerful potential for life.
THE WEB’S AWAKE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD OF WEB SCIENCE AND THE CONCEPT OF WEB LIFE is a radical new approach that questions the very nature and essence of the Web—what it is and where it is heading.
About the Author:
Philip Tetlow is a Senior Certified IT Architect in IBM’s Global Business Services Division, a Chartered Engineer, and an Open Group Master IT Architect. He has more than 20 years experience in the IT industry, specializing in the application of Web-based technologies, metadata, and transformation technologies on large central government systems. He has participated in the World Wide Web Consortium and coordinated their taskforce on the application of the semantic web in software engineering as part of the Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group.
About Wiley-IEEE Press:
Since their agreement in April 2001, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and the IEEE Press have jointly developed and published books in the fields of electrical and computer engineering under the Wiley-IEEE Press imprint. All IEEE Press backlist titles are distributed by Wiley. Wiley-IEEE Press authors come from all areas of electrical engineering and computer science. Experts in their respective fields, our authors share a commitment to providing timely and effective information to meet the professional and educational needs of electrical and computer engineers.