It's been a long while since the last time I got tagged for a theme, so I guess it'd be a good time to get that going, specially since my good friend, and fellow IBM colleague, Aneel, already did a couple of days back on "The Web in Twenty". This meme basically tries to answer three different questions:

• How has the Web changed your life?
• How has the Web changed business and society?
• What do you think the Web will look like in 20 years?

So over the next few minutes I will go and try to cover each and everyone of them, trying to keep things on the short side, of course, now that there is a new @elsua out there!

How has the Web changed your life?

I know that this may be coming across as a shocker for most folks, but I have always thought the main reason why I have been involved with the Web in the last 13 years is actually due to my employer, IBM. I am pretty sure that if it weren't for who I am employed by at the moment the Web impact upon myself would have been a lot less. In fact, to be honest, seeing what a horrendous bunch of experiences I had back at high school studying computing I bet I would not have been working with computers at all whatsoever. That probably explains why I can, so easily, disconnect for longer periods of time from everything Internet when I am on holidays. I have always preferred to go local, to nurture and cultivate relationships and friendships face to face, because somehow that's how I feel I get the most out of them.

However, I realise that's probably no longer a good representation of today's world; more distributed and virtual than ever, so I guess I could state that the Web has changed my life in such manner that has allowed me to keep up with people and their relationships ever so much easier through various different publishing platforms that have made that experience equally richer; somehow I feel that if the Web would have been 1.0 nowadays I would have given up on it altogether a long time ago. To me, the Web is social, so the focus has always been on connecting with people from all over the place and stay in touch. Because whether I like it or not, to me, that's what really matters: people and their relationships. And Web 2.0 has made that incredibly easy nowadays...

How has the Web changed business and society?

This one is an easy one to answer and go for, more than anything else, because it pretty much relates as well to what I have mentioned for the previous question; The Web, specially the Social Web, has enabled and facilitated the socialisation of both business and society; it's provoked that both of them are humane again, coming from that industrial age where for several decades (knowledge) workers were treated as resources, assets, something you could abuse tremendously without any further consequences.

What it has done is it's allowed everyone to understand that whether you are part of a society, or whether you are working in a specific business, there is always an underlying aspect that should not be forgotten: we are all people, we are all social, and we should always (No excuses!) be treated as such. Only then would we be capable of seeing the huge potential the human race has got to finally call progress ... Progress with a capital P.

So instead of experiencing that constant state of abuse from one person to another, it now becomes a partnership, a collaborative joint effort wanting to create wonderful things without putting down fellow people in the process. That's how the Social Web has changed not only what and how we do things, but who we are, as people.

What do you think the Web will look like in 20 years?

And probably the easiest one to answer from the three questions. Long long time ago I learned, though the hard way, that making plans or predictions into the future is a little bit of a waste of time. More than anything else, because at the state of how the world is progressing nowadays (And I am very serious on this point...) who is to say what the world, or the Web, would look like in 20 years time.

I mean, how do we know we will even be there, in the first place. I think we are much better off living by the day, enjoying every single moment treasuring those little things that really matter realising that we may have plenty of jobs, family and friends, multiple Web(s), different lifestyles, etc. etc. but at the end of the day, we only have got one life, one single life, so we may try as well try to get the most out of it!

And I bet the upcoming iPad is going to help me enjoy life even so much more, and for so many reasons! :-D

Ok, so, who do I tag for this meme, knowing and realising that people are incredibly busy nowadays and as such they probably won't have much time for it... Hummm, let's have a look:

- Oh, my good friend Rick Ladd, because I bet he has got a thing or two to share with us on how the Web has changed and influenced what we are doing out there in the deep space, and, more importantly, what the future may hold for us out there in those new worlds...

- Well, I think I would also tag Paula Thornton, because I sense designing a new Web will have direct implications for every business and for every society we are part of. And I would love to read her thoughts on what that designing of things would be like...

- And, finally, the one person I can think could well do quite an outstanding job in detailing how the Web has changed us, businesses and society and what it would be like in 20 years would be John Tropea. If you have been following his KM blog, you will know exactly why I said what I just said ...

Now, if you would want to consider yourself tagged and dive in as well, by all means; I bet we could build, pretty much, quite a good and extensive account of how we all feel the Web has changed us all, and perhaps hint what may be coming along soon enough ... Who knows ...

- Oh, oh, just came up with something, another couple of people I would love to tag would be my good friends Jay Cross, Harold Jarche and Stephen Downes, because I am sure they would have some fascinating and strong views on how Learning is key to the whole thing; shaping up not just the Web itself, but who we are and the role we play, both in the physical and virtual world!