1. BEING, SPACE, AND TIME ON THE WEB Michalis Vafopoulos Vafopoulos.org National Technical University of Athens

3. The Web space is: o Everywhere o Controversial o Contradictory o Unusual o Complex o Dynamic – “live” system

4. the new ecosystem What is changing? New issues: personal and global agenda Prosumers: Self-powered production Inter-creativity: Distributed collaborative production Non market & non property production What is needed? New analysis New governance New values

5. New analysis: Web science before WWW after 3/18

6. New analysis: Web science a trans-disciplinary field – Web as its primary object of study – Web= techno-social artifact positive or negative? Transformative! 3/18

7. Web science envelope question what technological and other changes need to be made in order for the Web to work better for more people? 3/18

8. Two magics of Web Science 8 Web & Philosophy

9. Web 9

10. 10 Google

11. Semantic Web 11

12. Web science perspective what changes need to be incorporated in the Web to best serve humanity? Can science & philosophy help in this direction? How? 12

13. Research question I What are the main characteristics of being, space, and time on the Web if it is considered a self-contained system that exists in and by itself? 13

14. Research question II How do these idiosyncratic features of the Web transform the traditional conceptions about physical being, space and time? 14

15. Outline ① Hypotheses ② Being, space & time in the Web ③ Applications ④ Hayek’s freedom ⑤ 3-level analysis – The Technological Web – The Contextualized Web – The Economic Web ⑥ Results & discussion 15

16. Being, space & time on the Web Being: exists if and only if there is a communication channel linking to it Web beings: beings communicated through the Web Web space: the Web being’s URI, incoming & outgoing links Web time: visiting durations 16

17. The easy part: criticism “Web … resource” economic and ecological connotations –h–human, natural, renewable etc. –l–land, labor, and capital –1–12 appearances in Economics classification –W–Wikipedia: not a word about Internet/Web thing” Not descriptive, too general, multiple meanings 17

18. Being on the Web practical & general definition Include some existing theories e.g. “Dasein (Heidegger) “circulating entities” (ANT), revert dichotomy individuals - society 18

19. Being on the Web “to have” (e.g., friends, connections, identities) becomes of equal importance to “to be” should be studied along with the various manifestations of “to be.” 19

20. URI -1 minimal description of invariant elements in communication through the Web borderline, interlocutor & fingerprint of Web being enables transformation from digital to Web 20

21. URI -2 directly connected to existence (birth, access, navigate, edit & death of a Web being) other characteristics of Web beings may change in time a change in URI means the death of existing & birth of a new Web being 21

22. The Web space -1 a division of position & place created by the links among Web beings each Web being occupies a specific locus in the Web network a 3d “geographic coordinate system” heterogeneous 22

23. The Web space -2 many “gravity” & relative “distance” metrics Such as hubs and authorities, centrality and algorithms (e.g., community detection) Pagerank initially build on Web space 23

24. The time -1 “bookkeeping” clock time (Physics) time is like a universal order within which all changes are related to each other (Aristotle) Time is meaningless if there are no tangible events (Aristotle) a series of choices in space 24

25. The Bergsonian time -1 sequence of finite & heterogeneous durations irreversible (unpredictable future) Each duration has a significance different from that of each preceding and following one. The transition from inner time to the time of things is related to memory and consciousness) 25

26. The Bergsonian time -2 Each duration has a significance different from that of each preceding and following one “These 5 min felt like a century..” The transition from inner time to the time of things is related to memory and consciousness 26

27. The Bergsonian time -3 indeterminism heterogeneity irreversibility capturing the essence of human behavior. The time of social systems 27

28. The Web time -1 a series of choices (visits) in the Web space (Bergsonian durations) visiting selections attach semantic meaning casual relationships among Web beings 28

29. The Web time -2 counting: Log file as a generic common property & co-operation in the Web 29

30. The Web time -3 Durations are becoming: Discoverable, Observable, Traceable Processable, Massive  increases material dimension of networks  enables reconstruction of consciousness & memory of Users 30

31. Relax the hypothesis of the self- contained Web and describe how the Web affects physical space, time, and existence. 31

32. Space and the Web Discoverable & Traceable (e.g. online maps) both expands (hyper-connected) and limits the notion of physical space (less travel) 32

33. Time and the Web -1 Human activities through or on the Web have become available asynchronously (in part) synchronously continuously 33

34. Time and the Web -2 Flexibility: If physical time is an arbitrary standard that enables the division of infinite space into useful parts, the Web assists us in separating it into even finer pieces 34

35. Time and the Web -3 pressure on traditional socio-economic structures (e.g. law) and Human behavior 35

36. Being and the Web -1 “networked individuals” – homo connectus linking with little regard to space (Wellman 2002) mobilize part or all of their information operating in a more flexible, less- bounded, and spatially dispersed environment. 36

37. Being and the Web -1 frequent switching among multiple social networks and modes of communication, a different sense of belonging, flexible business arrangements, and intense time management privatized space peer production as the 4 th P in property, procurement, patronage, and peer production (David 1992). 37

38. Research challenges to obtain the right balance between open access to online information and self-determination of users, on the one hand, and to provide the proper incentives to produce content and develop network infrastructure 38

39. Research challenges to accelerate socio-economic development by facilitating life-critical functions in the developing world and by enabling transparency, participation, and added- value services in the developed world. 39

40. How to analyze the Web as an ethical space? 40

41. Hypotheses Web: ethically-relevant social machine magma of Users and code start from the Web assume a self-contained Web or the “manna from heaven” hypothesis (internal ethics analysis) 41

42. “manna from heaven” hypothesis Web is the only existing system human beings are communicating & working solely through it a compassionate ‘God’ provides the necessary quantity of ‘manna’, fulfilling all human needs, with no cost & effort Web being, space & time 42

43. Freedom I o the source of values o “freedom-coercion” tradeoff – more options to solve problems collectively & innovate, but – some of these options may be used in ways that cause coercion 43

44. Freedom II Theories: how to construct a system that selects, with minimum social cost which positive options to sacrifice in order to minimize coercion (or the dual problem) start with Hayek’s approach because confronts with most Web characteristics 44

45. Hayek’s freedom I State posses the monopoly to enforce coercive power through General Rules Personal Sphere & Property counterweight state power General Rules are enforced equally & describe the borderlines between State & Personal Sphere Property is a basic realization of General Rules 45

46. Hayek’s freedom II Competition is possible by the dispersion of Property Mutually advantageous collaboration is based on Competition in service provision effective anti-monopolistic policy: require from the monopolist (including the state) to treat all customers alike Individuals should be responsible & accountable for their actions 46

47. 3-level analysis Apply theory of freedom according to Web’s evolution from plain s/w to ecosystem The Technological Web – Internet infrastructure & Web software The Contextualized Web – Sets of rules enforced through trust The Economic Web – Economic contexts 47

48. The Web as a space of Freedom Freedom free access & inter-connection of any compatible software/device freely navigate, create and update Web Beings and links universality, openness & separation of layers in engineering, editing, searching & navigating establish specific contexts in order to form beliefs that some Users/Web beings are trustworthy no barriers to economize Coercion badware applications (e.g. computer- zombies) traffic censorship (e.g.“Snooping”) inadequate quality of transmission badware-infected Web Beings central control & censoring of traffic “walled gardens” in SN (privacy threats & fragmentation) manipulation of indexing & searching (e.g. spamdexing) un-trustworthy technologies, business & governments badware & malicious representations concentration of power in a minority of Users inability of some people to benefit from the Web economy Internet Web software Contextualized Web Economic Web

49. Personal sphere IP address: can only be processed for certain reasons o Web: log file common ownership by design (admin & navigator) o architectural element of co-operation o Admin: direct access o Navigator: not straightforward access o not proper practices for collecting traffic o should be further analyzed 49

50. General rules Treating all Internet Users, Web Navigators & Editors equally profile customization open technological standards efficient business incentives 50

51. The contextualized Web Web 2.5: not only User-Generated Content, but context communication is central to establishing trust (Habermas) rich connectivity of the Web is bound into its function antitrust & coercion= the prices for widespread & beneficial trust 51

52. The contextualized Web internal Web ethics: ensure not that antitrust happens, but that it is outweighed by beneficial trust to as great a degree as possible consistent with Hayekian notions of freedom 52

53. Challenges in the economic Web I obtain the right balance between: open access and processing of online information (e.g. socially aware cloud storage, g-work) & provision of incentives to produce content & to develop network infrastructure 53

54. Challenges in the economic Web II accelerate socio-economic development by facilitating life- critical functions in the developing world (e.g. W3F) enable transparency & participation in the developed world (e.g. Open Data) 54

55. Challenges in the economic Web III o “Link economy” o “App economy” o excessive market power in Search Engine market 55

56. Results I centralization of traffic & data control rights on visiting log file custom User profiles interplay among function, structure & moral values are directly connected to the quality of freedom in the Web 56

57. Results II issues about freedom in lower levels of the Web (i.e. technology) have crucial impact on the subsequent levels of higher complexity (i.e. context, economy) 57

58. Next steps o involve more theories & disciplines o relax assumptions o connect to engineering issues (e.g. TAG) o Webizing humanity & humanizing Web 58

59. Webizing humanity & humanizing Web Web: emerged not as a business project with hierarchical structures but as a creative & open space of volunteers outside traditional market and pricing markets would have never invested such amounts in labor costs to develop it temporal disconnection between effort & rewards symbiosis between non-financial and financial incentives 59

60. Webizing humanity – humanizing web In economy o incorporate in the entire economy, the best of the symbiosis between virtues and economic incentives in the Web o the Web has still many lessons to take from the long-living market mechanisms on how to best orchestrate effort and reward in society 60

61. C. Initiate interesting questions Incorporates directly the relation and co- evolution between online and physical world What is the quality & quantity of this relation? Rethink influential concepts under the proposed framework: Embodiment, artifactualization, network individualism, privatised spaces and peer production. 61

62. Role of philosophy  What society can learn from the Web?  What can teach it in order to become more useful? 62

63. Thank you! More in vafopoulos.org References Being, space and time in the Web. Metaphilosophy (forthcoming). The Web economy: goods, users, models and policies. Foundations and Trends in Web science (forthcoming). 63

64. appendix 64

65. The Web time “time of social systems” is indeterministic, Heterogeneous irreversible built on the Einsteinian time of physical systems. 65

66. The case of Net Neutrality QoS issues Technological approach (e.g. Flow- Aware Networking) generic freedom-coercion trade-offs are useful in framing the feasibility space but incomplete in treating more specific cases in practice (like NN) 66

67. Flow-Aware Networking FAN may ensure neutrality along with the awareness of QoS create an occurrence, upon which the implicit separation will be performed solely based on the current link status (e.g. dataflow congestion, traffic bottleneck etc.). Therefore, all datagrams are forwarded unconditionally in the pipeline, but they are also “equal”, subject to be separated or even dropped when the network tolerance demands it. The main advantage of FAN-based architectures is that they differentiate the data flow, taking into account only the traffic characteristics of the currently transmitted information. Hence, apart from data discrimination, it is not possible to comprehensively discriminate certain applications, services and end-Users. 67

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72. The Being – Query ① The easy part: criticism ② The hard part: build concepts & models ③ The Being-Query framework: network inside! ④ Introducing the Web: Web Beings ⑤ The Being – Query framework expanded ⑥ How can this framework be useful? – Understand & compare diverse models – Expand existing & create new concepts – Initiate interesting questions 72

73. The hard part: build concepts Step 1: definition & assumptions A Being exists if and only if there is a communication channel linking to it. (possible update based on HH) A Query is the phrasing of a question by a Being, usually in terms of a code. The questions are messages expressed as sequences of symbols in the query language. Beings have Queries that address them to other Beings. up to now: an abstract model that could be described by a weighted network of Beings (not very useful!) 73

74. … and models Step 2: building the framework Users, are Beings that can “consciously” form Queries. Queries are organized in Topics (tractable and processable). 74 Topics Querie s Querie s Users Users Beings Beings

75. The Being-Query framework: network inside! A quad network: contraction of 4 interconnected networks 75 Querie s Querie s Beings Beings Topics Users Users

76. Introducing the Web: Web Beings Beings that can be communicated through the Web. URI: The minimal description of invariant elements in communication through the Web. Directly connected to existence (birth, access, navigate, edit & death of a Web being) Other characteristics of Web beings may change in time. A change in URI means the death of existing & birth of a new WB. 76

77. The Being – Query framework expanded “Teleportation”, Search Engines, relevance feedback, … Search Engine: get as inputs Queries and produce collections of Web beings 77 Topics Queries Queries Web Queries Users Users Web Users Beings Beings Web Beings “teleportation” Search engine

78. How can this framework be useful? Networks facilitate understanding, measuring, modeling, comparing, deciding & forming policy when connections matter and today matter more than ever… A.Understand & compare existing models B. Expand existing & create new concepts C. Initiate interesting questions 78

79. A. Understand & compare existing models ① Computer science [e.g. User models, TF (single: Web) ] ② Network science [e.g. Barabasi (single: Web) ] ③ Economic modeling (e.g.) – Stegeman (dual: Users-Web) – Papadimitriou et al (triad: Users-Queries, Topics, Web) – Katona-Sarvary (triad: Navigators-Users, Editors-Web, Topics) – Not yet published (quad-network models) Possible extensions in DSS, ERP, Bus. Intelligence 79

80. B. Expand existing & create new concepts Existing: e.g. Digital economy, ICT4D, internet of things,… New: e.g. Web goods Web beings with economic value Web Users Web economy 80

81. Web Users and economy 81