Envisioning multiple futures for the world wide web. I begin with a series of trends, from "web 3.0" to accessibility, then discuss some existential threats. Next, I address two big sources of potential impact: AI and climate change. I conclude with several scenarios, then advice to the audience. At Reclaim Open 2023, https://reclaimopen.com/ .

1. Futures for the Web
RECLAIM 02023

4. https://ldt.georgetown.edu/

6. 1. Extrapolations
2. External threats
3. Cultural changes
4. Tech developments
5. The Anthropocenic Web

7. https://www.fli
ckr.com/photo
s/wolfgangfoto
/2170329428/

8. https://www
.flickr.com/p
hotos/mikec
ogh/144480
59602/

9. 1991
The First Website: How the
Web Looked 30 Years Ago
(howtogeek.com)

10. 2029

11. Extrapolations
Quantity: is the
web approaching
a plateau?
Chart: How Many Websites Are There? | Statista

12. https://www.internetlivestat
s.com/total-number-of-
websites
Or are
we there
now?

13. https://news.netcraft.com/archives/2023/05/26/may-2023-web-server-survey.html

14. Projection options
● Stabilize
● Decline
● Resurgence

15. Other web trends
● Giant platforms
● Accessibility
● Responsive design
● Web 3.0

16. Other trends
●DarkWeb
●Splinternet…

19. Existential threats
Geomagnetic
storm
EMP/nuclear war

20. Potential cultural shifts
● State censor/dataveillance
● More public support of web
○ ->nationalization

21. Potential cultural shifts
● Content control per emerging
community norms
○ World: platforms
○ US: section 230

22. Potential cultural shifts
● Internet as TV returns
● Streaming/rental model
● Techlash grows

23. DIY culture
grows
-anticapitalism
-global

24. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/16/trump-vs-greta-thunberg-davos-prepares-for-climate-crisis-showdown.html

25. The impact of other technologies
New XR hardware
● Why use the web in that
space?
● Will XR follow apps away from
web?

26. The impact of other technologies
New XR hardware
Why use the web in that
space?
Follow apps away from web
[IMAGE OF APPLE VR
ANNOUNCEMENT]
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/06/introducing-apple-vision-pro /

27. https://www.axios.com/2023/05/18/augmented-reality-laptop-virtual-display

28. https://hi.is.mpg.de/research_projects/surface-interactions-as-probability-distributions-in-embedding-spaces

29. https://www.audiopub.org/surveys

30. AI

31. ● Easy content
production
● Mistakes/
deepfakes
● (Assisted)
creativity
● Assisted/
automated web
coding

32. One sequence:
1. Overproduction of
web content
2. Lack of information
literacy uptake
3. Adoption of
defensive AI tools-
>agents?
4. Result: general,
mediating AI layer

33. More fallout
● AI/Web jobs emerge
● Authenticity by watermark,
blockchain?
● Authorship problematic
● Make content available for

34. AI, labor, and the web
● Underemployment ->web
creativity?
● Retraining, relearning
through web

35. The impact of other technologies
Quantum computing
● Threat to encryption?
● Entangled web content?

36. Ubiquitous computing
● More web reading devices
● More input options

37. https://www.biorx
iv.org/content/10
.1101/2022.09.2
9.509744v1

44. https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-desertification-and-the-role-of-climate-change/

45. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01132-6

46. Multiple engagement levels

47. The climate crisis hits the Web
Existential threats
● To cyberinfrastructure: cables
and centers
● To human staff + disease
● To budgets

48. http://ix.cs.uo
regon.edu/~r
am/papers/A
NRW-
2018.pdf

49. Climate change hotspots and implications for the global subsea telecommunications network - ScienceDirect

50. One technology choice: reduce carbon footprint
● Make fewer pages
● “ lighter pages
● Single not multiple pages

51. ● Less interactivity
● Less rich media
● No blockchain, no
metaverse
● Some downtimes

52. https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/10/can-the-internet-run-on-renewable-energy.html

53. More
tangible
media

54. or

55. Replace travel with:
● more web content
● web-hosted services
(i.e., video, Starlink)

56. and

59. Cultural changes: accelerate techlash
● turn against big tech cloud centers
as CO2 sources?
● personal choice: AC or internet
during heat wave?
● geoengineering might further this,
esp. If it breaks

60. What might happen
● Taxing data centers or internet use
● NeoLuddites protesting or
damaging hardware
● Restricting use, a la rolling
blackouts

61. ● Restrict web design - size
of page; loading scripts;
ads?
● “ “ web use of AI, since it’s
a CO2 leviathan now

62. Hard choices ahead
Shamani Joshi https://www.vice.com/en/article/qvgb8b/how-climate-change-will-kill-
your-internet

63. What
about a
Solarpunk
web?

64. Another cultural change:
nogrowth, degrowth economy
● Recycle Web-supporting
hardware
● Low-impact, low-cost media

66. What might Web 4.0
and 5.0 be?

67. Paleoweb
One stratum of the networked world,
alongside other tech.
Perhaps growing a bit.
Perhaps more controlled in ways.

68. Paleoweb
Also:
● Darkweb
● Some social media giants

69. Paleoweb 2.0
Or as @Kfitz describes.
Like poetry, Interactive Fiction:
small, no capital, built on love.

70. GreenWeb
Lighter, taking up less memory
and bandwidth.
In opposition to computationally
intensive platforms and media.

71. Everything, everywhere, all at
once Web
More media crammed into pages and
browsers.
Integrated into IoT and XR.
Multiple AI layers.

72. Actually
https://www.flickr.com/ph
otos/lumiere2005/44103
66626/

73. Where does that leave
us, Reclaimers?

74. ● Fight for the web’s
value
● Support creative and
crucial uses

75. ●Think of futures
●Conspire and
cocreate

76. Keep creating
stuff together!

78. http://futureofeducation.us/
http://twitter.com/bryanalexander
https://mastodon.education/@bryanalexandee
http://forum.futureofeducation.us/
https://bryanalexander.org/books/