Research questions

Overview of research questions per Group.

Group 1 Arif

• Will internet user be given two identities - one they are born with and one for their internet identity?

• How will the internet replace the need for personal interaction. Will society fight back against companies trying to coerce them to shift use to web (such as banking)?

• Will managers make bad decisions because on are not able to address the integrity of the business partners?

• Will the proliferation of the internet (the need to be connected to email and blackberry) affect the humans ability to become detached from work?

• is there a need for paper currency in the future? Will the homeless (beggars) die since people dont carry any change anymore?

• Human race becomes increasingly dependant on internet but the technology itself is pretty vulnerable (nobody can dare to argue :)). Given the current explosive growth and use of internet what will happen to an abstract person should the operations of internet be disrupted for a long time in a particular region?

• The compelexity of software and hardware running the internet increases. A lot of computing resources are left idle (users' computers). At the same time people have long struggled to develop AI. What if people finally develop AI and it overtakes the control of internet. Sounds science fiction but we have enough movies :) and books dicsussing such scenario. It can be of course a more distant future than we are dealing with.

• There are no country borders in the internet. Globalization affects people's lives and national identities. Will the further spread of internet and decrease of travel costs eliminate the notion of a state and its system. Will internet lead to increased unification of countries and will it result in one planet-wise country with a unified political and economic system. Will it lead to several blocks of countries? Asia-EU-Amerika, etc.

• The complexity of techology is increasing and the costs of its implementation while the territory coverage does it as well. Is there a point at which the further development of technology will outweight any benefit? As an example, Intel and AMD do struggle to sell their new processors because most users still run office, etc and do not need extra computing power.

Katsushi

Political

• Will the government or regulator control any Internet web sight?

Economic

• Will the internet increase in the speed of macro economic downturn/upturn?
• Will the stock price of Internet companies such as Google increase comparing to index?

Social

• Who will control or govern internet?
• Will the Internet be the essential means for all of human being?
• Will somebody observe or govern the Internet anonymous chatting sight?

Technological

• Will be there any alternative technology to Internet?
• Will we be able to watch movies on demand via Internet?
• Will be there a technology to prevent illegal music/movie download?

Environmental

• How will the Internet make and increase people's awareness to environmental issues?
• Will the Internet reduce transaction cost and result in contribution to environment?
• How will the Internet contribute to reduction of greenhouse gas such as CO2?

Group 2

Kelly

Political

• How will cyber-terrorism affect the Internet?

• How will piracy/copyrights/intellectual property rights be resolved, if ever?

• How will personal privacy issues be handled, especially as it is legally handled differently in different countries (i.e. US it is covered under business law and in EU it is covered under individual rights law and is thus subject to different regulations)?

Economic

• Will the internet increase or minimize the growing rich-poor divide?

• How will companies/people make money on the Internet (besides traditional e-commerce), if at all?

• Will the Internet eliminate or create jobs worldwide?

Social

• Will cultures become homogenized through the Internet?

• How will the Internet shape/help/hurt developing countries?

• How can the Internet improve the quality of people’s lives (i.e. “remote” healthcare, etc.)?

• Will the Internet be used as a means of control or enlightenment?

• Will use of the Internet as a means of communication replace face-to-face contact?

Technological

• Will m-commerce ever take off?

• How will the Internet be incorporated into our everyday environment (e.g. smart-appliances, wearable devices, etc.)?

• Will large portions of the developing world continue to be without Internet access in 2015?

Environmental

• Will “virtual” workplaces, telecommuting, online versus printed content, etc. eventually have a positive impact on the environment through reduced pollution, use of natural resources, etc.?

• Will people eventaully prefer their virtual environments to their real ones?

Ricardo

• Will the Internet be used in a deep way in developing countries?
• How Internet will impact the cultural and economic develop of third world countries?
• Is there going to be any global restriction for Internet usage / Information spread?
• Is Internet a useful tool for spreading terrorism or any other ideology?
• Will the Internet be a useful tool for minorities?
• How the commercial approach for companies will change with a more Internet - integrated society?
• How local cultures will be affected by the increasing use of Internet?
• Will other industries be affected by piracy, like currently are music, video games and movies?
• Is education going to improve with Internet?
• How Internet will help us to separate our lives from work? or is it going to be the other way around?

Miguel

• Will the economy drive the Internet or the Internet is going to drive the economy?
• Will the Music Industry desapear with the internet or on the other hand will take advantage of this to change the way they were doing business?
• Will the increase of bandwidth is going to increase the ammount of internet devices?
• What will be the relation between bandwidth increase and content ammount?
• What will be the role of the government in the future of internet?
• Will the bank's physical agencies will disappear and substitute by internet banking?
• Will e-cash substitute real cash in the future?
• Will e-books substitute real books in the future?

Luis

Political

• Will the internet make the world more homogeneous and manipulable by politics by 2010?
• Will the internet in 2010 allow those societies where penetration is higher to held elections via the internet?
• How likely is it that information becomes truly democratic (as opposed to being controlled by governments) -- reporting on war, etc.

Economical

• How will the increase in internet penetration impact on how we live and work? -- will 10 million people cities become obsolete? what would be the impact on real state?
• Will small companies be able to survive in an environment where large companies are becoming ever larger and omnipresent?

Social

• Will societies become more participative, therefore more prosperous? (Article by Barbara mentions a study explaining that participative societies are more prosperous)
• Will the internet (and other technologies) be sufficiently developed by then to allow us to have virtual yet face-to-face meetings?
• How will this impact on the way we work and socialize? How will this impact on the family concept? will families become smaller and fragmented?
• Will there be a towards having a dominant internet language(s)? Will it be english?

Technological

• What will be the number of users in 2010?
• How will the spread of technology / internet will help create new technology?
• Will the internet be used to continue developing massive shared computing applications (such as SETI)

Environmental

• Will internet penetration have a positive impact on the environment? Being able to work from anywhere reducing the need to burn fuel everyday to go to work.
• How will information sharing impact on the world ecology? Will it help preserve the environment by putting environmental exploitation on the spot light?

Group 3

Daan

Political

• Who will govern and control the internet? Will there be any laws for the internet (local/global and written/unwritten)?

• Will the internet more and more function as a forum between viewpoints and stimulate the political debate? Will it be robust enough for this function and how can misusage be prevented?

• Can intellectual property be protected on the internet in the future? If not, will this then slow innovation?

• What is the future of hacking and spam?

• How will the internet deal with the different languages in the world or will there be a dominant internet language in the future?

• How available will new technologies and internet become for all layers of society and all countries? Who will govern this spread?

Economical

• How will internet change business in the next couple of years (global vs local, small vs large companies)?

• How will companies deal with crime and security of payments to stimulate e-commerce?

• How soon will there be consistency in the global tax regime with respect to e-commerce? What impact will this have on internet business?

• What impact will telecommuting have on the economy and business?

• How fast and far reaching will the globalization of labor develop itself because of the internet, and will it ultimately have an effect on equality across continents?

Social

• How will trust be built on the internet and who are the actors in this development?

• What impact will telecommuting have on society?

• What implications will the digital divide between countries and sectors in society (old and young people) have on the social relations?

• Will we ever be able to separate our personal lives from the internet or will it keep on following us?

• Internet will stimulate social interaction between people, but will this digital interactivity also lead to a significant decrease in verbal skills of people?

Technological

• Is internet sustainable or just a temporary tool?

• How soon and how radical will the device convergence for internet take place?

• How will grid computing evolve and change human endeavor?

• How will the speed of internet advance over the years and what other developments will result from this?

• Will wireless be reliable, secure and work with high bandwidth? When will it provide the same mobility for internet communications as we currently enjoy with cellular phones?

Environmental

• How will internet stimulate information sharing about environmental issues in a way that the environment will benefit from it?

Ute

Political

• How will local governments regulate the usage of the information that is available on the Internet?

• How will governments worlwide cooperate to set laws, regulations etc. for the Internet?

• How will governments approach the information misbalance of the world related to an unequal accessability of the Internet worldwide?

Economic

• Will trade be only made via the Internet?

• How will the availability and accessability of the Internet influence economic performance of countries?

• How does the Internet influence long-term economic cycles?

• How will the Internet influence unemployment rates?

• How will the Internet influence jobs and industries people work in?

Social

• How will values and common believes (cultures) change?

• Will the Internet dominate the way how people communicate or will there still be human, direct interaction?

• Will the Internet be present in all day-to-day activities or are there parts of our live where the Internet will not be influencing?

Technological

• Will technology develop in way that allows people to access the Internet everywhere, anytime?

• Will the Internet be based on technology we already know today?

• What medium will we use to access the Internet (computer, phone, TV, other devices)?

Environmental

• How will the Internet influence people's attention to environmental issues?

• Will the technology be environment-friendly or not, i.e. will it cause high volumes of waste etc.?

Katsuya

• Where the growth of the internet is coming from?
• Until when will the exponential growth continue?
• Who will be able to actually afford the internet?

- Two thirds of the worlds people have never even made a telephone call!

• How will we conduct ourselves online?
• How our language will be changed?
• What 'Mobile ubiquitous computing' will look like?
• How much non-PC devices will account for all web-enabled units?
• What will be the effect upon people and their interactions with other people?
• How will the nature of communication changing dramatically change the nature of the humans who do the communication?

Lars

Political

• How can governments be the drivers and to a larger extent promote the usage of the internet?

• - and could the government then also influence the way it is used through rules or guidelines - or by setting the standards?

• Can Governments actively use technology as a means to "make the world a better place"?

Economic

• How will the internet continue to promote a larger globalisation and thereby influence global economy?

• How will economy, national or global, be influence by the internet? How will the development of the internet be influenced by the economy?

• How could the internet be a driver to improve the economic performance and standards of poor countries?

• Will the internet introduce more new categories of to us unknown jobs and markets?

Social

• Will the increased mobility and flexible working ways (distance work etc.) make the boundaries between work and private life dissapear - or how will they change?

• Will the internet alter society's perception of social inequalities?

• Will the internet continue to make people (especially young) spend more time on line and less time physically active, thereby adding to the trend of increasing obesity?

• Which social values and norms will be lost and what will they be replaced by?

Technological

• Is there even a future for "our" internet, or will it be replaced by something else more innovative and revolutionary?

• The internet is "moving" from our something we meet on conventional computers to becoming more incorporated in our daily lives (In cars, in toys etc.). Where will we "meet" the internet of the future?

Environmental

• Could the internet be used to promote "better" and more sustainable environment attitudes?

Frederik

Political

• Will the internet be governed by powerful private organizations, governments or consortiums?

• Will the meaning of “Knowledge is power” increase in the future?

• What influence will the internet have on labor laws and control due to teleworking?

Economic

• Will a difference in technology/stages/bandwidth have an influence on (growth of) economic performance in countries?

• Will increasing connectivity influence our spending ?

• What industries will emerge and which ones will disappear with the increasing integration of the internet into our daily lives?

Social

• Will we ever be able to separate our personal lives from the internet or will it keep on chasing us everywhere?

• How will the internet and its utensils influence our language and social behavior?

• Will society personalize internet access and create digital friends due to the internet?

Technology

• Will we use devices for accessing the internet in the future, or will the internet be integrated in our clothes, or even into our bodies?

• What techniques will we use to make information visible? Projection? And on what objects: screens, every possible surface, on special glasses or maybe directly into our eyes?

Environmental

• What is the influence of the increasing contact of our human body to the high frequency waves, resulting from wireless communication?

• Will we use “clean energy” to supply our internet systems with power?

Group 4

Eser

Political:

-How will the internet affect the power of local governments?

-Will the internet increase conflict of interest between nations?

-Will the internet increase or decrease influence and power of politics and politicians?

-Will the internet increase transparency in the governance of the nations and public organizations?

-Will the internet eliminate bureaucracy in the public organizations?

-How will the internet be regulated?

Technological:

-How will the people react to the technological advancements in the internet? Will they easily adapt or will they resist it?

-What kind of confidentiality issues will arise as a result of internet related technological advancements?

-What kind of ethical issues will arise as a result of rapid technological advancements in internet?

Economic

-How will the internet affect dispersion of global welfare between nations?

-How will the internet affect global commerce? Will the on-line transactions dominate the global trade?

-Will the internet provide same economic advantage to all nations or increase the income gap between them?

-How current corporate dynamics and working conditions will be affected by the internet?

Social:

-How will the internet affect inter-personal relationships?

-How family relations will be affected by the advancements in the internet?

-Will the internet be the unavoidable and dominant part of our personal lives?

-How will the internet affect the crime rate in the societies?

-How will the internet contribute to the Socially Responsible Investments?

Environmental:

-How will the internet contribute to the solutions of current environmental issues?

-Will the internet enhance people's consciousness about environmental related issues?

Claudie

Political:

- Will the internet decrease further national governments’influence and power?

- Will governments appropriate the internet with the use of regulations and make it a public system that provides national financial resources?

- Will the internet feed terrorism?

Economic:

- Can we imagine a world where everybody can get access to the internet despite the big economic and technological gaps between the developed and developing countries?

- Will the internet help to create new business activities and industries while supporting the current ones? Or on the contrary, will it reduce the number of industries to result to a very simplified business world, where only the industries that are able to work virtually will survive?

- Will the internet become a commodity like electricity or steel?

Social:

- Will there be the creation of an inside world that will get the upper hand on the outside world?

(My idea behind this question is to wonder if people will stay more at home front of the screen of their computer, connected to the internet and interacting virtually with the external world. This may be re-inforced by the emergence and the growth of teleworking, e-commerce, chat websites, video cam, etc., while creating a new world, but a new world from the inside.)

- With the indefinite capacity of information and knowledge storage on the internet, will it impact positively/negatively human intelligence?

- Will the internet influence people’values, and therefore, decrease cultural differences?

Technological:

- Is the internet a sustainable tool? Won’t there be another one (derived from the internet) that will revolutionize again the way we communicate, live, make business, etc? Is the internet a technological fad?

- Will security and privacy standards be created, like ISO standards, and that will be controlled by an international (public/private) organization?

- Will IT keep evolving as fast as or even faster than today? Is there an end to the evolution of IT?

Environmental:

- Will the internet have a positive impact on the environment due to less business travel, less paper work, and less energy consumption?

- Will the internet enable to find environmental solutions quicker by empowering international environmental communities who share knowledge and ideas?

Group 5

Edo

Political:

• What political changes in teh world will be effected by the Internet's capability to inform people in real time what is going on in their own country?
• Will Internet 2 Internet2 will be more regulated than the current Internet?

Economic:

• What will be the business model for revenues from e-marketing in 3. 6 and 10 years time?
• If TV and the Internet will become one medium - how will taht affect online marketing and offline advertising?
• What will be the online marketing ROI model used to gauge success of online campaigns?

Social:

• Will there be off-shore server placement still a haven for renegade websites?
• Will P2P downloads will become transparent so as to prevent RIAA and other legal agencies from pressing charges against home users?

Technological:

• Will propietary EDIs will be still in use?
• Will WiFi mobiles replace 3G and 4G mobiles? Will there ever be a 4G in use?
• Will WiFi mobiles become the one-stop entertainment module of the future?
• What is the next step in speed beyond ADSL?
• Will MIM (Mobile Instant Messenger) will become standard mobile feature?
• Will there be a successful mobile phone that will be WiFi mobile PDA (the prblem of screen size and keyboard)?
• Will Internet will be anywhere state-provided instead of privately provided (i.e. free wireless access)?

Environmental:

• Will the Internet be able to reduce costs related to environmnetal issues (preventive, symptoms relief)?

Group 6

Group 6 Carmel

Political Who will control the Internet? Large companies or government? Who will regulate it? What about privacy issues? Will laws be at a national or international level?

Economic Will the Internet lead to greater economic progress? Will the Internet be more of a hindrance than help? Where are taxes collected – buyer’s or seller’s country?

Social Privacy issues Copyright Terrorism – does the Internet enable it? Hinder it? Making people aware? Cultural implications – one global culture or will national cultures dominate? What will the language of the future be on the Internet? Spanish? Chinese?

Technological Will the Internet be readily available, affordable and accessible everywhere (at fast connections)? Will wireless app’s really be so pervasive? Will people want them? Will m-commerce be ubiquitous?

Environmental What will be the implications Ethical issues Will the Internet raise awareness of environmental issues? Help to further the cause? Or be indifferent?