Integration and Web 3.0 or "It's about walls breaking down..."

Yesterday, we started talking about the kinda abstract - and, in many ways, arbitrary - names applied to different paradigms of the internet: specifically, Web 1.0, 2.0, and Web 3.0.

Per those discussions (which lead us into Thursday's discussions) I found some interesting articles that speak to some of the integration, the breaking down of walls, the one-vendor-gives-you-everything-you-want notion of what the interwebs is becoming.

Obviously, there's a lot to look at in terms of what Facebook is trying to integrate. Facebook wants to be your music provider, and possibly put other music providers out of business. Facebook might want to provide you streaming video by acquiring Hulu. Oh wait, Google might also want to acquire Hulu so the big G can be your source for streaming content. Wait, so does Amazon. WAIT! So does Dish Network!

Then here's another article about the possibility that these types of integration (especially in Facebook) might actually be bad for social interaction. Can you imagine?

The Internets ain't all satellites, you know.

Actually, it turns out that the bulk of direct, international communication takes place via fiber-optic cable strung across the ocean. Seriously. Seem like an epic underatking: running thousands and thousands of miles of light-carrying wires across the inky depths of the oceans? Well, it is epic.

Up until very, very recently, it's also been super-secret. The locations of those cable, I mean, has been secret. Now, however, there's an AMAZING, interactive, data-heavy map of the cables created by (sponsored by?) a company called Telegeography.

Now, I don't know much about the company, but I know a good map when I see one. Go check out the mapo and learn a little more about what's involved when you email your friend in France a picture of a cat wearing socks.

(hat-tip to Gizmodo).

Awesome visualization of U.S. newspaper presence

Per some of our recent ENG 2353 discussions, I ran across this simple-but-great visualization illustrating the presence and coverage of newspapers in America's history. The data comes from a study by the Library of Congress, and has options for several different drill-downs. Check it out:

The Growth of US Newspapers, 1690-2011 from Geoff McGhee on Vimeo.

(via Chart Porn)