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USERS REIGN
Social networks and cloud computing have evolved with all the promise foreseen in 2010. However…introduction of mandated digital citizenship training in preschools and primary schools has spread around the world. Advances in software and other technological advances have made it possible to rely on network [cloud] based language translation and young people, in particular. The advent of the always, switched on world has introduced a new form of digital divide – the divide between millineuls, and the ‘other users’ of the online world. The reliance on appliances and networks drives huge consumption of energy, and the search for a new power source to drive the mobile generation. From the North to countries with vast reserves of petro resources, climate change and environmental pressures have continued to grow, and the formerly called developing countries have establishes strict prohibition rules against digital dumping, of both physical and ‘soft’ waste. 2010-2011 As economic forces served to highlight regional and international differences, issues of global concern continued to demand international accord. Climate change remained a central focus as The spate of natural and environmental disasters which captured the world’s attention and galvanized relief efforts also revealed the need for “real-time” communication and on-the-ground assessment of the disaster landscape. The new phenomenon of social networks filled the void. Organizations formed immediately in response to crises to provide assistance and coordination for victims. Reports from aid workers on the ground were disseminated quickly through social networks which, with video evidence, revealed the successes and failures of distribution and allowing organizations to nimbly navigate roadblocks to aid delivery. In addition to disaster mitigation, the growth of social networking changed the way people maintain relationships in their everyday lives. Those who were adults when the Internet emerged used it to reconnect with lost friends. The next generation millenials grew up with social networking, never losing contact with friends and acquaintances, and maintained large networks of connectivity throughout their lives. Mashup applications added location information and video to provide a historical record of social interaction. The extensive amount of content and personal data volunteered by individuals for their online profiles raised privacy concerns. Yet despite the potential for misuse of this information, and periodic examples of its abuse, there seemed to be little to dampen the enthusiasm of users to expose their personal lives to the public or their ever expanding network of friends. While privacy and security concerns also existed for cloud computing, there was little that could discourage the desire of people to make their content portable. With the rapid improvement in mobile devices, both in terms of storage and the breadth of applications, users became more comfortable shifting their work and personal data to remote storage for ready access at any time and from any location – further altering the norm for access and business communication. 2012-2014 These advances ushered in an era of wireless ubiquity where users sought remote monitoring and control over increasing elements of their lives. In an effort to improve energy efficiency and to provide more control to the user, everyday appliances became smart machines connected to the network, allowing remote access and generating data logs. Social networks made great use of this new information. By networking appliances and recording usage data, people were able to track their performance, assess quality, and share these findings with others pooling information together to create automated assessments and benchmarks. It also greatly assisted the troubleshooting process as technical support representatives or repairmen could perform remote diagnostic tests to address problems remotely. Automobiles also integrated wireless connectivity shipping as a standard feature in most vehicles. This provided location-based information for traffic monitoring and opened a marketplace for on demand audio and video entertainment and information resources. With the added ability to record and transmit video, cars were equipped with cameras that allowed parents to monitor their children’s driving behavior. hese devices had the added benefit of serving as accident video recorders, the use of which were incentivized by insurance companies through lowered premiums. The increased sales of new wireless units, along with rising demand for hybrid and electric cars, created significant demand for lithium batteries. Countries of the Andean range possessed the majority of lithium deposits and reaped the benefits of this advantage. In response, funding multiplied for energy use efficiency research, while aggressive recycling programs were implemented to minimize waste and recover useful materials. In response to fears of immigrant populations and concerns for security, biometric identification was made mandatory for government issued IDs. Faced with this new requirement, users sought to integrate biometrics into their smart phones since it provided added security to communications and commerce. Mobile devices evolved into the principal instrument for both personal identification and commerce as plastic cards that performed these tasks become redundant. Citizen journalism shifted the control of information from major media conglomerates to gangs of powerful, yet loosely affiliated information leaders known as "connectors." Without editorial controls or government oversight, the connectors toppled governments, and were behind the rise and the fall of many public figures. Online defamation became common, and those defamed had no recourse. Freedom of expression for anybody other than the connectors virtually disappeared. Users believed that the wellbeing of the majority was more important than the preservation of copyright laws. Copyright systems worldwide crumbled under the pervasive violations of copyright laws by users and the inability of governments to prosecute the volume of offenses. 2015-2020 With this new capability, community elders were drawn into the online activities as the translation software coupled with the rapid evolution of the video phone allowed them to share a heritage with younger generations as never before – no keyboard required! This development had a tremendous impact on the preservation and continuation of numerous native languages which were struggling to find a place and relevance in this modern world. With users continuing to push the limits of mobile devices on a global scale with tens of millions of new mobile users in China, India and Africa, battery technology was seen as roadblock to further development on the mobile platform. This issue was answered in 2017 with a significant breakthrough in solar battery charging technology. New mobile and handheld devices were sold with a separate device with allowed for a powerful charge in a reasonable timeframe – never seen before. Users were quick to recognize this market-altering development and drove another huge expansion of the mobile device market. This new battery technology was also hailed by civil society organizations as a key to bringing reliability and predictability to regions and countries which had struggled with these limitations issues in the past. Responsible user on the Internet was now being viewed in the same light as responsible driving was 20 years earlier – as a shared responsibility that all were expected to contribute to. Another sign of this new sense of online responsibility was the development of youth organizations (similar to the Boys and Girls Scouts) charged with teaching and spreading the message of responsible usage to new users. Recognizing the value of these youth organizations, national governments were quick to jump in and support these initiatives at the grassroots level. 2020-2025 With seemingly endless storage available in the cloud and sufficient wireless capacity to send as much data there as needed, viewwearTM allowed its users to document their lives more completely Using this service, social networking took a new form as people shared their direct life experiences in episodic form called life-feeds, broadcast live, or on demand, for subscribers. Continuing to serve the voyeuristic nature of audiences once satisfied with reality TV programming and twitter feeds, people watched and rated the entertainment value of user-generated productions of real life experiences. In addition to personal recordings and public broadcasts, viewwearTM served as a deterrent to physical harm. Since the video record of any incident or attack could be retrieved from storage and used as evidence, the service provided a strong disincentive for assailants. Society accepted the pervasiveness of video recordings and was willing to sacrifice individual rights to privacy and freedom from unauthorized recordings as it became easier to solve crimes and adjudicate legal claims. As governments faced incredible fiscal difficulties caring for retired baby boomers, and showed no willingness to make difficult choices allocating resources, they were forced to use innovative ways to generate needed revenue. While society was generally unwilling to embrace law enforcement surveillance of auto and life-feeds to prosecute victimless crimes, its resistance was not so great when the penalty was a ticket. Where citizens once decried the frequency of parking tickets and the invasiveness of speed cameras, they came to bemoan tickets incurred for breaking laws they had previously done so with impunity. Using access to auto feeds, fines for speeding and violations such as rolling stops came in small increments, but steadily. Life-feeds yielded fines ranging from jaywalking to crimes seldom pursued by police in courts such as recreational drug use. The fines did little to change behavior, and generated substantial but not enormous sums, but they reflected the willingness of society to recognize the authority of law enforcement at a limited level that users felt did not impinge upon the primacy of the individual. |