Thinking About the Next Internet

Qwiki came online to the public today in alpha form and right from the start it demonstrates that the future of search will be social and multi-media inclusive.

While in no way do I find the Qwiki experience ideal -- I generally have problems with site-hosted sound that competes with whatever I'm listening to as I surf -- I do see it as marking the type of future the Web might present. As it stands now, the Internet is still primarily a visual medium. Part of that has to do with the battles that went on years ago with Napster and the like that forced music and commercial film into proprietary situations like iTunes. And despite YouTube's appeal as a place to find information and video stuff, no one would confuse it with a site that provides a welcoming and engaging aesthetic experience.

In a way, our forms of communication themselves have become (once again?) primarily visual. Just compare the number of emails and texts you've sent in the last three weeks to the number of phone conversations you've had.

And so, there is a great opportunity for an Internet experience to develop that is more social, more interactive with all senses and intelligences, and more aesthetically engaging. What will it look like? Well that's anyone's guess. But I think Qwiki offers us a glimpse into what might very well be in its infancy, namely the New Internet.

Today's Lesson: Students Will Be Able To Explain How a Global Network Responds to Current Events via Real-Time Search

Present events have created a perfect teachable moment.

In the time it took me to write that sentence, 93 new reports came across Twitter Search concerning the situation in Iran. Twitter Search updates automatically in real time and posts the number of updates since your last check right in the tab you've got it running through on your browser.

I've had classes of students use Twitter Search to create collaborative bibliographies as well as self-directed grammar reviews.

It's also a darn good way to explain how a global network responds to current events.

The ability to process and analyze real-time search is one of the fundamental 21st century skills. Unlike the traditional search functions most of us are used to, real-time search opens up many new possibilities: including the ability to use search as a broadcast tool.

We're now up to 435 new reports since I wrote that first sentence.

Real-time search is also a democratizing tool. It evens out the media playing field and gives each voice -- from the correspondents of major news organizations to the average persons-on-the-street -- equal time. Real-time search is carrying live and in real-time the news of what's going on right now in Iran; and it's doing a much more comprehensive job than any traditional media outlet.

This is something our kids need to understand.

And it's something that needs to be explained in no uncertain terms to the folks who would otherwise choose to block social media in schools.

Social-media-driven real-time search is currently producing a wealth of human knowledge. For what reason, barring ignorance, would we want to hide that from our students?

As for the updates? In the time it took me to jot out this post, over 1045 individual stories came through Twitter Search -- just on the situation in Iran. Stories, links, first-hand accounts, video feeds, Flickr galleries, and a whole lot more. Over 1045 news messages in the time it takes CNN to run commercials.

Here is the link to the #IranElection feed.