Six words that will influence the network world in the next 20 years

At the Web 2.0 Expo, Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired magazine, delivered a speech on six trends that will influence the online world for the next 20 years.

Kelly said, "These are long-term developing trends; I'm referring to the direction of development over the next 20 years." So what are they?

• Screening - Kelly pointed out that screens used to only appear on TVs, then computers, but now they're everywhere and increasing in number. In the future, every surface could potentially be a screen.

• Interacting - What we call interaction today is limited to our fingertips, but the advent of iPad and Kinect has changed everything, adding more interaction with our bodies. Looking ahead, there will be interactions through gestures, voice, cameras, and other means with our bodies, just like in the movie *Minority Report*.

• Sharing - Most people think that the current concept of "sharing" represents the pinnacle of social media ideals, but Kelly said, "We're just getting started," from checking in to share one's location to real-time photo and video sharing.

• Flowing - "We are now entering a new era of network metaphors," where our work on desktop computers is being "streamed" in real-time to the internet. For example, Google's Cloud Connect synchronizes Office documents on the desktop with Google Docs.

• Accessing - We are moving towards a world where we care less about "owning" information and media and more about "accessing" it. We see the rise of online TV services like Netflix, where users no longer need to "own" a movie disc but can simply have the right to stream movies instantly. This trend will expand into the music market.

• Generating - "The Internet is the world's largest copying machine." Looking ahead, important content will be stored on the internet in ways that make it difficult to copy, yet it will still be easily accessible anywhere at any time with simple payment methods.