For many, it's been a very challenging year. Enough said.

I prefer to use this, my last column of the year, to look forward. And to help in this effort, the researchers at Pew/Internet have just released their report The Future of the Internet III.

I've covered the earlier iterations of this research in the past.

It's a survey of a thousand 'Internet experts', described as internet leaders, activists and analysts and some of the findings are predictable, others surprising.

One finding will be music to the ears of the folks at Manx Telecom and Sure.

The study predicts that the mobile devices will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.

At this point, the 'bottom' three-quarters of the world's population will account for at least 50 per cent of all people with Internet access—up from 30 per cent in 2005.

Of course, the mobile phones of 2020 will be significantly different from the ones we use today.

Telephony will be IP-based and the World Wide Web will look considerably different too as online property owners seek to accommodate billions of non-English speakers via mini-screens.

Another prediction of the study is that transparency of people and organisations will increase, but that will not necessarily yield more personal integrity, social tolerance or forgiveness.

We are starting to see things shift this way as more corporates, public sector organisation and private individuals are using the interactive aspects of Web 2.0 to communicate with online communities.

As a result people's expectations of honesty and transparency are being heightened and the online crowd can turn on someone in a heartbeat when someone fails to meet the standard.

We've already seen Twitter mobs going after major brands.

Pew/Internet predicts that voice recognition and touch user-interfaces with the Internet will be more prevalent and accepted by 2020.
Now this one is a bit Star Trek meets Minority Report.

Remember Jean-Luc Picard saying, 'computer, make it so'?.

We'll be able to do the same at work, in our homes, at the gym, everywhere.

According to the study, lawyers will be kept busier than ever.

Those working to enforce intellectual property law and copyright protection will remain in a continuing 'arms race', with the 'crackers' who will find ways to copy and share content without payment.

Both hardware and software manufacturers, along with infrastructure and service providers will have to work very closely together to tighten up and crack down on piracy.

But, the days of fully protected copyright are numbered as it will be impossible to stem the tide.

The study showed the divisions between personal time and work time and between physical and virtual reality will be further erased for everyone who's connected, and the results will be mixed in terms of social relations.

For many of us this is already true as work and life continue to blend (blame the Blackberry?).

And with increasingly compelling interactive, social online games coming to the fore (Company of Heroes), most of us already have a family member who can only be recognise from the back since their face is always pressed against a screen.

Next-generation engineering of the network to improve the current Internet architecture is more likely than an effort to rebuild the architecture from scratch. This last finding is obvious. So much money has been sunk into today's networks, that it would be folly to dump them and start over.

The internet may become more fragmented as various regions of the world come online, on the whole the telco business model will be largely unaltered by 2020 and advancements in technology will come in increments.

That's it for me for 2008. As Tech Talk enters its third year, I'd like to thank everyone who takes the time to read and invite you contact me with story ideas for 2009.
Merry Christmas everyone.


>>Sherrilynne Starkie is the managing partner of Strive Public Relations, a strategic communications consultancy serving the Isle of Man. Visit her business blog, Strive Notes for frequent updates www.strivepr.com/notes or follow her on twitter.com/sherrilynne