POST-WEB – THE CONTINUOUS GEOGRAPHY OF DIGITAL MEDIA

Since its beginning, cyberspace has become many things; it is an information network for researchers, a social media hub for teenagers, a game arena for players and an information highway for both brands and users. I think we cannot go backward right now. As the Web brought so many changes, from MP3 and iPods, DivX to multiplayer gaming, the current awareness is that we are living in a Post-Web era. Unlike before, we are much more addicted to graphics, data, speed, grids, virtuality and digital experiences. After the 90s, the Web turned into a shared cultural platform. Web 2.0 is all about participation, and as for Web 3.0 it is mostly about spatially hyper-tagged information. Even when we keep in mind how cyberspace began in its early days, it seems obvious that it is building up a completely new geography, a continuous one, inhabited by brand new characters. It started with grids, vectoral logics and wireframe graphics. Then textures filled the frames and new worlds expanded. Thus, these worlds have not ceased to resemble real or cinematic worlds. Now things such as data pop up around us outside, not inside the screen. Geomedia and the Spatial Web made it possible to interact with the digital world anywhere… We did not get into the computer world; the computer world is now in the street. Location awareness tools and mobile media maps make sure we will never have to be lost again. There is only one single dierence: one can hardly remain o the grid…