As the information highway becomes societyÕs town square, we will come to expect it to conform to our cultureÕs mores. There are vast cultural differences around the world, so the highway will be divided into different parts, some dedicated to various cultures, and some specified for global usage.
Some people … find the idea of a humanized computer creepy. But I believe even they will come to like it, once they have tried it… Social interfaces may not be suitable for all users or all situations, but I think we’ll see lots of them in the future because they “humanize” computers.
One of the worries most often expressed about the highway concerns “information overload.” It is usually voiced by someone who imagines, rather aptly, that the fiber-optic cables of the information highway will be like enormous pipes spewing out large quantities of information. Information overload is not unique to the highway, and it needn’t be a problem. We already cope with astonishing amounts of information by relying on an extensive infrastructure that has evolved to help us be selective – everything from library catalogs to movie reviews to the Yellow Pages to recommendations from friends … The ideal navigation system will be powerful, expose seemingly limitless information, and yet remain very easy to use. Software will offer queries, filters, spatial navigation, hyperlinks, and agents as the primary selection techniques.
In the end, reputation, reliability, reality – those will dominate the virtual world, as they rule the real.
Groups should be allowed to establish their own social norms to apply to their shared communications. In general, carrier and service providers should not have to be concerned with content. That should only be the concern of the content providers and the groups and individuals that wish to obtain content. One can design technology that allows groups to set their own standards so that their group-oriented communication process is one that is private to the group and regulated only by the social norms that the group establishes. If the group is paying for this service, then the establishment of norms is their privilege.
Users should exhibit the same ethical behavior they would consider proper for face-to-face communications. People in the electronic environment sometimes feel less inhibited about insulting others or being abusive. Users need to include paralinguistic cues to express the emotions usually conveyed by body language. If this is not done, misunderstandings frequently occur and lead to the property of flaming (angry feedback loops). Users need to socialize and develop trust within communicating groups in order to be able to work together as an effective networked group. Users sometimes need to be more open about their feelings than is necessary in face-to-face groups.
Sender rights [should] include being able to track and determine what has happened to their communications and information.
Receiver rights associated with being able to filter and block unwanted communications are necessary.
Services providing marketplace capabilities should ensure the right of purchasers to express their views of the product to prospective purchasers.
Individual users should have the right to sell their services and/or information through networks. This means service providers need to be able to provide financial accounting systems for users.