Humanizing the Web

The authors describe how the web is transforming from a one-way information delivery channel to a socially rich communication vehicle, resulting in the humanizing of the web and fulfilling the web's original promise. They explain how the web continues to change businesses, software design, the way we perceive people and the skills required of us. The web's key challenges are defined as six paradoxes and its role as an innovation ecosystem is introduced, emphasizing the consideration of the social web as a software platform, user experience, and business ecosystem. The volume explores the challenges related to the search for Zero-to-One innovations, breakthroughs, and the key strategies for discovering these kinds of innovations for the social web (or through the social web for non-web environments). It also envisions the next generation of the web, including both transformations that are already ongoing and visible as well as new expectations. An important message for companies and organizations is to adopt a set of core business values that will facilitate innovation processes in this future humanized web. These business values are very humane. Finally, the authors discuss key threats and opportunities for this future. A special feature of the book is that it draws upon 20 interviews of world-class social web specialists and Silicon Valley influencers, including innovators, founders, and managers from companies and organizations such as LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Flickr, MySQL, Google, Mozilla, SLAC, Cisco Systems and Yahoo! The compelling interviewees are Vint Cerf, Henry Chesbrough, Douglas Engelbart, Judy Estrin, Caterina Fake, B.J. Fogg, Hector Garcia-Molina, Mark Granovetter, Reid Hoffman, John Lilly, Marten Mickos, Ted Nelson, Tim O'Reilly, Paul Saffo, Neal Sample, AnnaLee Saxenian, Ben Shneiderman, Jimmy Wales, Bebo White, and Terry Winograd.