The Web's awake : an introduction to the field of Web science and the concept of Web life / Philip D. Tetlow.

By:

Tetlow, Philip [author.]

Contributor(s):

Material type: Text

TextPublisher: Hoboken, New Jersey ; IEEE Press/Wiley-Interscience, c2007Description: 1 PDF (xxi, 239 pages) : illustrationsContent type:

text

Media type:

electronic

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9780470145876

Other title:

Introduction to the field of Web science and the concept of Web life
Field of Web science and the concept of Web life

Subject(s):

Genre/Form:

Electronic books.

Additional physical formats: Print version:: No titleDDC classification:

004.678

Online resources:

Abstract with links to resource

Also available in print.

Contents:

The Web and life -- The spectrum of complexity -- The importance of discreteness and symmetry in systems -- Natural structures for man-made machines-curvature in information and computation -- Positional information and scale-free networks -- Evolution through engineering -- A less-than-simple matter of boundless organics -- Emergent intelligence and posthuman concepts -- The physics of information and computing -- Counter arguments -- Objective opinions -- Appendix A: An outline of the semantic Web and its potential for software engineering -- Appendix B: Beyond the semantic Web.

Summary: The central thesis of The Web's Awake is that the phenomenal growth and complexity of the web is beginning to outstrip our capability to control it directly. Many have worked on the concept of emergent properties within highly complex systems, concentrating heavily on the underlying mechanics concerned. Few, however, have studied the fundamentals involved from a sociotechnical perspective. In short, the virtual anatomy of the Web remains relatively uninvestigated. The Web's Awake attempts to seriously explore this gap, citing a number of provocative, yet objective, similarities from studies relating to both real world and digital systems. It presents a collage of interlinked facts, assertions, and coincidences, which boldly point to a Web with powerful potential for life.

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Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-226) and index.

Restricted to subscribers or individual electronic text purchasers.

The central thesis of The Web's Awake is that the phenomenal growth and complexity of the web is beginning to outstrip our capability to control it directly. Many have worked on the concept of emergent properties within highly complex systems, concentrating heavily on the underlying mechanics concerned. Few, however, have studied the fundamentals involved from a sociotechnical perspective. In short, the virtual anatomy of the Web remains relatively uninvestigated. The Web's Awake attempts to seriously explore this gap, citing a number of provocative, yet objective, similarities from studies relating to both real world and digital systems. It presents a collage of interlinked facts, assertions, and coincidences, which boldly point to a Web with powerful potential for life.