This document discusses the need for an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the future of the internet, called "Internet Science". It proposes creating a Network of Excellence to support multidisciplinary research and education in internet-related fields. The goals would be to understand how technological changes impact society and to design networks that enable positive social outcomes. An "internet scientist" profile would combine expertise from areas like networking, sociology, law, economics and more. Activities may include workshops, schools, researcher exchanges and defining priority research areas.

1. Internet Science
fabrizio.sestini@ec.europa.eu
New Paradigms and Experimental Facilities
European Commission
DG Information Society and Media ••• 1
"The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission"

2. EU ICT research 2006/2013 in Future Internet
Approx. budget: 2 billion euro
FI PPP The Future Internet
experimentally-driven research
1.5 Networked 1.3 Internet of
1.4 Trustworthy Internet
1.6 Experimental facility and
Media & 3D Internet Things
1.2 Internet of SW & Service
1.1 The Network of the Future
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F. Sestini 4/10/2010

3. but Internet is not just about technology...
• Economic transformation
– Productivity gains in standard businesses
– New businesses/SMEs, new advertisement paradigms, energy grids
– New economic models (skype, google, apple, cloud, …)
• Social expansion
– Ubiquitous access to information (copyrighted or free: wikipedias, googlemaps, ...)
– Online social networking (Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, ...)
– Personal expression (Youtube, Flickr, …)
• Psychological change
– Internet time (affecting workstyles and lifestyles)
– Globalisation, multilinguality, AR
– Online Trust
• Legal Impact
– Redefinition of Privacy and Identity
– Copyrights in the digital era
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– Cybercrime
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4. two questions…
• the present Internet: was it …
planned? or just serendipitous?
• the future Internet: what will it look like?
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5. Future Internet scenarios
(Oxford Internet Institute Study on Technological, Social and Economic aspects of FI)
distributed
Universal Wiki:
(user-gen. knowledge)
P2P, free content
Individuals/business
blogs
people/society
social nets
e-democracy
Big Brother:
commercial services
entertainment (e.g.
IPTV)
DRM-heavy
apolitical
centrally controlled ••• 5
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6. Technological and Policy choices have
Social and Economic impacts
Universal Wiki Big Brother
Internet Current architecture Vertically integrated
infrastructure ad hoc/mesh, user driven specialized nets
Interoperability NGN or "clean slate“ for
Technological
Distributed control streaming
developments Generalized wiki Walled gardens
Privacy / identity more than Strong Security,
Security and Privacy security proprietary
Online Reputation
Light / no IPR protection
Policy Transparency
Strong IPR protection
Competing closed standards may
Open or Open source standards
Standards Multi-cultural support
prevail
National customisation
Network Neutrality Key, to enforce Just a burden
Findings from the MIT workshop
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7. Understanding links between
technological issues and socio-economic impacts
distributed mesh/multi-hop
Individuals / business
centralised control, clouds
People / society
end-to-end principle NGN
identity
privacy security
trust/reputation
environmental monitoring sensors/IoT customer control
P2P IPR
open standards proprietary systems
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8. multidisciplinary approach
• Why multidisciplinarity:
– to understand socio-economic impacts of technology
– to design networks capable of sustaining positive social
developments
• Towards an “Internet Science”
– An holistic approach based on scientific and humanistic
disciplines
• networking, computing, telecommunications, complex systems,
security, trust and identity, privacy, sociology, psychology,
energy, user interfaces, law, anthropology, economics,
knowledge management, …
– creating an “internet scientist” profile
• The “architects” of the future internet
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9. What competences does an architect need
tecnology / sociology
infrastructures
Life and Social Sciences
policy /
art
economy
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10. Internet Science - first step
Network of Excellence – 5 M€ budget
ICT objective 1.6d - Call 7 - deadline 18/1/11
Web forum http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/fire/internet-science_en.html
Related actions
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/fire/future-internet-and-society_en.html
Oxford Internet Institute Study on Interrelations between
Technological, Social and economic aspects of the future internet
Paradiso 2 accompanying measure
Workshops:
FIREWeek Ghent, 15 December 2010
…
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11. towards an NoE in Internet Science - open issues
• Effectively involving human sciences
– Also in the “driving seats” of the multidisciplinary governing/advisory board
• Define target application areas
– e-democracy, energy, environment, modelling, etc.
• Ensure discipline and EU coverage
– networking, computing, telecommunications
– complex systems, game theory, physics
– software, services, security
– sociology, ethnology, anthropology, philosophy, ethics
– trust, privacy, laws, economics, governance
– psychology, perception, user interfaces, art
– knowledge management, semantics
– …
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12. towards an NoE in Internet Science /2
• Types of activities to be supported:
– Multidisciplinary workshops / publications
– Schools (in thematic multidisciplinary areas)
– Researcher exchanges (between different disciplines and
sites)
– Contests / open calls on specific topics
– Roadmapping, definition of multidisciplinary areas
– Creation/recognition of new Curricula / Scientist profiles
– Your ideas …
F. Sestini 4/10/2010