debate 3

Even though HyperText Markup Language has been the most extended markup language since the appearance of the Web, recent steps towards semantic integration brought up the necessity of a new tool capable of administrating data. This led to the creation of eXtended Marked Language.

While the sintaxis of XML and HTML is similar (they were both based on SGML), their functions and characteristics differ:

Both HTML and XML place tags around an element to describe it. HTML uses tags to determine the visual display (e.g. font size), whereas tags in XML indicate the category of each element (e.g. “city”, “date”, “name”…). This helps structure the content of the text.
Most HTML users put their attention only on getting the page look the way they want it to, even if the structure behind it is left disorganized. With XML, documents won’t show up unless they’re correctly constructed (well formed), thus forcing an arrangement to be respected. The format of XML documents makes them portable to different platforms and allows structured data coming from other sources to be combined easily.
HTML tags are predefined and limited. Instead, XML lets users create their own tags to classify elements with more precision. As an example, if we had every book written by Shakespeare marked as such, we’d be able to access a list to all of them. With the current methods, however, performing a search about “books” and “Shakespeare” gives us mixed results between works written by him and about him.
The internet is now heading towards eXtended HyperText Markup Language. XHTML is a hybrid of XML and HTML, where information is described in one layer and given the format needed to present it in a browser separately.

References:

Objetivos y usos del XML (2001, June 21). In DesarrolloWeb.com, by Miguel Ángel Álvarez. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
¿Cómo se diferencia el XML del HTML? (2003, November 11). In Maestros del Web, by Christian Van Der Henst S.. Retrieved December 10, 2008.
¿Por qué XML? (2003, April 17). In GAMAROD. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
Tutorial de XML en Flash (2004, April 5). In Cristalab, by Freddie. Retrieved December 10, 2008.

XML (2008, November 28). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 11, 2008.

Ainhize Leon, Aiora Juaristi, Ana Cristina Guerra, Ayanta García, Maialen Etxeberria, María Losada.

debate 2

Walter J. Ong, well known for his studies in oral and written communication, coined the term “secondary orality”, describing it as “essentially a more deliberate and self-conscious orality, based permanently on the use of writing and print” [1].

Ong calls the electronic age an age of secondary orality. These are the main aspects to be taken into account:

Electronic text is multisensory. Words are often displaced by images or videos, which enhance the ways a message can be transmited. This makes the interchange closer to oral communication, which couldn’t happen with printed books.
The solitary experience of either writing or reading the printed page encourages distance and impartiality. On the other hand, electronic text and oral text are both flexible: With hypermedia, “the reader participates in calling forth and defining the text of each particular reading”[2].
The value given to authorship diminishes. Internet projects such as the wikis require a large number of collaborators to work while getting no credit. These type of sites are spreading, and return us to the anonymity characteristic of primary orality.
Quoting Brenda Danet, specialist in communication on the Internet: “Although we are just beginning to research the issues involved, it already appears that a new ‘orality’ is emerging in digital writing, which may result in a culture which places far less value on originality, and more on an ambiance of ‘togetherness’ based on community of interest among fragmented subgroups dispersed in place and time.”

References:
[1]. ^ Walter J. Ong in Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (1982).
[2]. ^ Bolter in Writing Space: The Computer, Hypertext and the History of Writing (1991).

Orality, Literacy, Digitality. (1996, August 15). In Constructivism at work, by Nick Lilly. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
Secondary orality. (2008, September 8). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
Orality and Hypertext: An interview with Ted Nelson. (1996). In Cyberspace Report by Jim Whitehead. Retrieved November 12, 2008.
Oral/Literate/Hypertext. (1994). In Bob Fowler’s Home Page by Robert M. Fowler. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
The Prehistory of Cyberelectronic Language(s). (2003). In Hypermedia Joyce Studies by Donald F. Theall. Retrieved November 12, 2008.

Ainhize Leon, Aiora Juaristi, Ana Cristina Guerra, Ayanta García, Maialen Etxeberria, María Losada.

debate 1

Kevin Kelly (born 1952) is the founding executive editor of Wired magazine, and a former editor/publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog. He is considered by some an expert in digital culture.

In his talk at the EG 2007 Conference, Kelly estimates that today’s Web has about the complexity of a human brain and by the year 2040 it will exceed all of humanity in its processing power. His vision is that in the next 5,000 days one single, global machine will evolve with the Web as its operating system. Every bit of data will be on the Web, and the machine will be able to think by itself and know us.

Kevin Kelly points to a progression from the pre-web linking of computers to the web’s linking of pages. In the next stage, which some call the Semantic Web, the machine will link data directly to other data, wherever it may be. We will link from one idea (or word) on a page to another idea or word, rather than just link from one page to another. This restructuring of the Web will lead to every noun having a representation and being supported by the entire web.

References:

Video of the 2007 EG conference talk: Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the web. (2008, July). In TED: Ideas worth spreading. Retrieved October 19, 2008.
The Immersive Internet and Kevin Kelly’s “5,000 days of the Web”. (2008, July 31). In ThinkBalm: Immersive Internet insights & expertise, by Sam Driver and Erica Driver. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
Kevin Kelly looks to the next 5000 days of the Web. (2008, August 1). In ZDNet by Paul Miller. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
Kevin Kelly. (2008, October 9). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved November 5, 2008.

Ainhize Leon, Aiora Juaristi, Ana Cristina Guerra, Ayanta García, Maialen Etxeberria, María Losada.