互联网惊天猜想

由两位英国年轻人 Robin Sloan 和 Matt Thompson 制作的长达八分钟的 Flash 日前在国外引起了巨大的反响。这是一部史诗般的电影，讲述互联网的过去、现在以及未来（如果网速无法在线观看，推荐下载）。

从 1989 以来的 25 年时间里，互联网是如何改变媒体的传播方式，是如何一步一步地改变我们的生活方式。2014 年发生了什么，你能想的到吗？Google 和 Amazon 联合组建Googlezon、Googlezon 打败微软的新闻网站、纽约时报起诉 Google、2014年，Googlezon 重新定义了 EPIC（Evolving Personalized Information Construct）......

观看地址：http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/ols-master.swf
下载地址： http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/ols-mattrobin-flash.swf

英文配音：

It is a best time,it is a worst time.

In the year 2014 people have access to a breadth and depth of information unimaginable in an earlier age.

Everyone contributes in some way.

Everyone participates to create a living, breathing mediascape. However, the Press, as you know it, has ceased to exist. The Fourth Estate's fortunes have waned. 20th Century news organizations are an after-thought, a lonely remnant of a not too distant past.

The road to 2014 began in the mid-20th Century.

In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a computer scientist at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Switzerland, invents the World Wide Web.

1994 sees the founding of Amazon.com. Its young creator dreams of a store that sells everything. Amazon's model, which would come to set the standard for Internet sales, is built on automated personalized recommendations �C a store that can make suggestions.

In 1998, two Stanford programmers create Google. Their algorithm echoes the language of Amazon, it treats links as recommendations, and from that foundation powers the world's most effective search engine.

In 1999, TiVo transforms television by unshackling it from the constraints of time - and commercials. Almost no one who tries it ever goes back.

That year, a dot-com start-up named Pyra Labs unveils Blogger, a personal publishing tool.

Friendster launches in 2002 and hundreds of thousands of young people rush to populate it with an incredibly detailed map of their lives, their interests and their social networks. Also in 2002, Google launches GoogleNews, a news portal. News organizations cry foul. GoogleNews is edited entirely by computers.

In 2003, Google buys Blogger. Google's plans are a mystery, but their interest in Blogger is not unreasonable.

2003 is the Year of the Blog.

2004 would be remembered as the year that everything began.

Reason Magazine sends subscribers an issue with a satellite photo of their houses on the cover and information custom-tailored to each subscriber inside.

Sony and Philips unveil the world's first mass-produced electronic paper.

Google unveils GMail, with a gigabyte of free space for every user.

Microsoft unveils Newsbot, a social news filter.

Amazon unveils A9, a search engine built on Google's echnology that also incorporates Amazon's trademark recommendations.

And then, Google goes public.

Awash in new capital, the company makes a major acquisition. Google buys TiVo.

2005 �C In response to Google's recent moves, Microsoft buys Friendster.

2006 �C Google combines all of its services - TiVo, Blogger, GMail, GoogleNews and all of its searches into the Google Grid, a universal platform that provides a functionally limitless amount of storage space and bandwidth to store and share media of all kinds. Always online, accessible from anywhere. Each user selects her own level of privacy. She can store her content securely on the Google Grid, or publish it for all to see. It has never been easier for anyone, everyone to create as well as consume media.

2007 �C Microsoft responds to Google's mounting challenge with Newsbotster, a social news network and participatory journalism platform. Newsbotster ranks and sorts news, based on what each user's friends and colleagues are reading and viewing and it allows everyone to comment on what they see.

Sony's ePaper is cheaper than real paper this year. It's the medium of choice for Newsbotster.

2008 sees the alliance that will challenge Microsoft's ambitions. Google and Amazon join forces to form Googlezon. Google supplies the Google Grid and unparalled search technology. Amazon supplies the social recommendation engine and its huge commercial infrastructure. Together, they use their detailed knowledge of every user's social network, demographics, consumption habits and interests to provide total customization of content - and advertising.

The News Wars of 2010 are notable for the fact that no actual news organizations take part.

Googlezon finally checkmates Microsoft with features the software giant cannot match. Using a new algorithm, Googlezon's computers construct news stories dynamically, stripping sentences and facts from all content sources and recombining them. The computer writes a news story for every user.

In 2011, the slumbering Fourth Estate awakes to make its first and final stand. The New York Times Company sues Googlezon, claiming that the company's fact-stripping robots are a violation of copyright law. The case goes all the way to the Supreme Court, which on August 4, 2011 decides in favour of Googlezon.

On Sunday, March 9 2014, Googlezon unleashes EPIC.

Welcome to our world.

The Evolving Personalized Information Construct' is the system by which our sprawling, chaotic mediascape is filtered, ordered and delivered. Everyone contributes now �C from blog entries, to phone-cam images, to video reports, to full investigations. Many people get paid too �C a tiny cut of Googlezon's immense advertising revenue, proportional to the popularity of their contributions.

EPIC produces a custom contents package for each user, using his choices, his consumption habits, his interests, his demographics, his social network �C to shape the product.

A new generation of freelance editors has sprung up, people who sell their ability to connect, filter and prioritize the contents of EPIC.

We all subscribe to many Editors; EPIC allows us to mix and match their choices however we like. At its best, edited for the savviest readers, EPIC is a summary of the world �C deeper, broader and more nuanced than anything ever available before.

中文翻译：

　　这是最好的时代，这是最坏的时代。

　　2014年，人类对信息的使用达到了早期难以想象的广度与深度。

　　每个人都以某种方式进行着贡献。

　　每个人都参与其中，他们创建了一种鲜活，逼真的媒体风景。然而，正如你知道的，新闻媒体已经寿终正寝。新闻界的财富已经衰退。20世纪的新闻机构成为古董，它们已是遥远过去孤独的残余。

　　通往2014的道路开始于20世纪中期。

　　1989年，Tim Berners-Lee，瑞士欧洲粒子物理研究所旗下粒子物理实验室的一位计算机科学家发明了万维网。

　　1994年，Amazon.com成立。年轻的创始人梦想一家无所不售的商店。Amazon的模式设定了互联网销售的标准，即要有一套自动化，个人化的评价体系－一种能够进行建议的商店。

　　1998年，两位斯坦福的程序员创造了Google。他们的算法与Amazon语言相似，Google将链接作为一种评价，从这开始，这家公司创立了世界上最有力的搜索引擎。

　　1999年，TiVo颠覆了电视，它将人们从约束时代解放出来。体验过TiVo的人，几乎没有再回头的。

　　这一年，一家名为Pyra Labs的小公司推出了Blogger，一种个人出版工具。

　　Friendster成立于2002年，成千上万的年轻人蜂拥而至，它的走红勾勒了异常详细的青年人的生活，爱好以及社会网络的地图。也在2002年，Google推出了Googlenews，一个令新闻机构哭喊的新闻门户网站。Googlenews完全上有电脑来进行编辑。

　　2003年，Google收购了Blogger。Google的意图成为一个秘，但他们对Blogger的兴趣并不是没有道理。

　　2003年是blog之年。

　　2004年将是很多事情开始发端的一年。

　　Reason杂志向用户发送了一期杂志，封面有一张用户们房屋的卫星照片，里面则是用户自己订阅的定制化信息。

　　索尼和飞利浦公布了世界上第一张能够大批量生产的电子纸张。

　　Google推出了GMail，每位用户拥有1GB大小的免费空间。

　　微软推出了Newsbot，一种社会性的新闻过滤器。

　　Amazon推出了A9，它是一种建立再Google技术之上，又结合了Amazon自己商标推荐的搜索引擎。

　　随后， Google上市，

　　有了新资本的滋润，这家公司进行了一个重大的收购，Google购买了TiVo。

　　2005年－为了回击Google，微软购买了Friendster。

　　2006年－Google将它所有的服务－TiVo， Blogger， GMail， GoogleNews以及它全部的搜索整合进了oogle网格之中，这是一种通用平台，提供功能无限的存储空间与带宽，用户能够存储，分享所有种类的媒体。永远在线，随处访问。每位用户可以选择他们自己等级的隐私。她可以将内容安全的保存在Google网格中，或者公诸于众。它前所未有的方便，每个人都可以创建，消费媒体。

　　2007年，微软开始用Newsbotster挑战Google，它是一个社会性的新闻网络，一个新闻分享平台。Newsbotster根据每位用户的朋友与同事正在浏览的东西对新闻进行排序与分类，它允许每个人对新闻进行评论。

　　在这一年，索尼的电子纸张已经比普通的纸张便宜。它成为Newsbotster的一种媒介。

　　2008年是联盟挑战微软野心的一年。Google和 Amazon联合组建了Googlezon。Google提供Google网格以及搜索技术，Amazon供应社会评价引擎以及它巨大的商业架构。合而为一，两家公司使用了自己对每位用户的社会网络，地理人口，消费习惯与兴趣的详尽认识，去提供完整的定制化内容与广告服务。

　　2010年的新闻大战中，没有实际的新闻机构参与其中。

　　Googlezon最终以微软无法匹敌的功能而打败对手。使用新的算法，Googlezon的计算机能够灵活的建造新闻，从所有的内容来源及评价体系中剥离语句，分析事实，然后对他们进行重新组合。计算机为每位用户书写新闻故事。

　　2011年，新闻界开始苏醒，他们开始第一，也是最后一击。纽约时报开始起诉Googlezon，控告其自动分析新闻的机制违反了版权法。这个案子最后打到了高等法院，2011年8月4日，法院做出了对Googlezon有利的判决。

　　2014年3月9日，星期日，Googlezon推出了EPIC。

　　欢迎来到我们的世界。

　　"进化性的个人信息结构"（Evolving Personalized Information Construct）是一种让混乱无序的媒体进行过滤，有序，发行的系统。每个人现在都能够投稿－从blog内容，到手机相片图像，视频，到长篇调查报告都可以，很多人为此获得报酬－只需从Googlezon巨大的广告费用中抽出少许即可。

　　根据他们的选择，消费习惯，兴趣，地理位置，社会网络，EPIC为每位用户创造了一种定制化的内容包。

　　新一代的自由编辑已经成长起来。