Small-Cap Internet Companies

Nov 1st, 2006 | By Penny Sleuth Contributor | Category: Technology

While there is a lot of talk about the “Web 2.0,” and other possible successors to today’s World Wide Web, I find that much is only talk. (I’m often reminded of the saying, “When all is said and done, there’s a lot more said than done.”)

Consequently, I’m impressed when groups are not only talking about doing something revolutionary, but actively prototyping it. That’s why I am excited to share with you the “Liquid Information” project of Dr. Frode Hegland at University College London.

Wired describes the project as being, “Like Wikipedia meets hypertext.” I would throw Google in as well, for reasons you’ll see in a minute.

(Note: Wikipedia is the Web-based encyclopedia that’s an ongoing, free and collaborative effort of countless persons across the globe. Subject to modest restrictions, anyone can edit any page, and yet the information remains of high quality.)

Liquid Information is a whole new way to organize Web documents, and thereby the Web itself.

Currently in the World Wide Web, only words or phrases marked as “HTML” (hypertext markup language) can be “clicked-through” to jump from the current page to another page. HTML is, nevertheless, a very powerful tool in that every page on the Web is directly or indirectly linked to every other.

Liquid Information makes every single word or phrase on every single Web page potentially linkable to every other such word appearing anywhere on the ‘Net and, more practically, to various tools and places you’re likely to want to go if you’re interested in learning more about that word or phrase.

In a Web based on Liquid Information, all documents would be editable and every word could become a Web link. Not only that, every word would offer links to multiple places with contextual information to help guide the decision of where to go next.

For instance, suppose you’re reading a Web page about the history of chess. In a Liquid Information-based Web, you could place your cursor over the name “Garry Kasparov,” and a pop-up window might display links to this great world champion’s biography, his current activities, his famous encounter with supercomputer Deep Blue, his remarks about Bobby Fischer, his great rivalry with Anatoli Karpov and other potential topics of interest.

You would have instant access to search engines such as Google and Ask Jeeves so that, by clicking on that choice of search engine, it directly gives results for “Kasparov.” No waiting, no extra typing required.

In addition, you can instantly translate the word into other languages, look up a definition of it, launch e-mail about it, visit blogs on the subject, and even use more exotic tools. The nice aspect of this “instant” feature is that it makes it easy to go places and get more information.

For example, I found the “definition” feature a painless and instantaneous way to look up a word I might otherwise have ignored. (I knew the approximate definition and was vaguely curious about the precise definition. Imagine how good this will be for schoolwork and education.)

I should mention that not everything at the Web site worked for me. However, this being a prototype, it does illustrate the potential.

Dr. Hegland developed the system because he believes that there is an imbalance between the production and consumption of information. In his view, a disproportionate amount of resources have gone into the production of information, without much being done to enable efficient and intelligent consumption.

In Hegland’s view, this technology will help the web to realize its potential as originally envisioned and intended by architect Tim Berners-Lee. (According to Berners-Lee, the Web was intended it to be an interactive system resembling Wikipedia.)

Liquid Information lets readers easily modify how information is presented. As the project’s homepage puts it, “You can think of this project as an effort to turn Web ‘browsers’ into web ‘readers.’”

The ultimate goal is to empower users to process information in any way imaginable.

While many are excited about Google’s attempt to great the world’s largest online searchable library that would only offer a fraction of the potential available here. Liquid Information envisions a future in which everything is published online and everything is available to the extent the authors wish to make it so.

Frankly, it’s not clear exactly how the line between consumers and producers of information would blur. For example, I can hardly imagine that the New York Times allowing any reader to modify a story to suit their particular preferences. (We would rapidly see the Times turn into something resembling the National Enquirer.)

In any event, those are the kinds of details that get resolved as such a system evolves. I suspect the logical outcome will involve levels of public/private access ranging from no modification rights to total modification rights.

You can learn more about Liquid Information, and even see for yourself how such a Web would work in practice thanks to several prototypes the professor has prepared

Liquid Information is fun, it’s interesting, and it might just be a vision of the future of the Web. In fact, a version is now being offered for use with the Firefox Web browser (though I was disconcerted to not find a link to it at the Web site).

A company has been formed to develop this commercially. I’ll be watching closely to see whether it’s well managed. If so, the potential profits are sure to be huge.

To your profitable future,
Jonathan Kolber
November 1, 2006

P.S.: Gold prices are rising once again, and it’s time for you to take advantage of it. In fact, one top analyst is so sure gold will soar even higher than it did before, he’ll even guarantee it lands at least 257% above where it is right now.

Penny Sleuth Contributor

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