This news article says a report written by Trevor Barr,Alex Burns and Darren Sharp looks at the future of the internet and “quotes internet heavy-hitters”.One of whom is Mr Howard Rheingold.Professor Barr’s report,(PDF) Smart Internet 2010,”explores four schools of thought on the next five years of internet evolution.The Adaptive User Environment suggests that the most successful technologies will be those that can fit user needs;proponents of Not the Smart Internet want a simple,user-friendly web;Rich Media advocates want to be able to see “any content,on any device,in any format,at any time”;and the Chaos Rules school holds that the internet “may be in a continual state of decay and worsening disorder”.The report says “ubiquity will be the byword of the net’s future.Said Professor Barr:”Instead of the net society,it’s about the net in society.It will become this indispensable lifestyle tool”.

Future by users,not providers