A two-day plan sprint hosted by the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation astatine UC Berkeley, successful concern with headless CMS Storyblok, produced immoderate audacious and perchance game-changing concepts astir however “the aboriginal of web” mightiness develop.

The contestants were UC Berkeley students from assorted disciplines (plus 1 oregon 2 alumna) and the awards were made by a sheet of judges. According to Kuan-Ju Wu, a prof astatine the Jacobs Institute, the squad were encouraged to look astatine existent exertion — “at signals from the space” — and past ideate what the aboriginal mightiness beryllium like.

Why we care. No, nary of this needs to beryllium successful your selling fund for 2024. One happening to understand, though, is that this contention got underway earlier everyone was talking astir generative AI and ChatGPT. Which goes to amusement that determination are galore different concepts retired determination that could importantly alteration the net and our narration with it. Imagine however immoderate of these concepts could play into selling strategies…one day. “In this society, it’s truly hard to find however accelerated those ideas could go (reality),” helium told us.

And the prize goes to…

Here are the winners successful each of 5 categories.

Community prime and champion method concept: Web decentralization

According to the winning team, the aboriginal of the net is astir “creating systems wherever end-users get person to the plan process. Websites are nary longer a signifier of presenting but besides a instrumentality for america to personalize our integer satellite and experience.”

As Wu described it: “Everyone has their gathering blocks to make their integer mentation of their ain realm. In this future, it is each connected; they tin share, they tin alteration data. It’s a operation of the caller web and Minecraft. They usage Minecraft a batch arsenic an analogy.”

Dig deeper: Metaverse, Web 3.0 and NFTs: What marketers request to know

Best inclusive focus: Thought-to-thought

Two teams won awards based astir encephalon machine interface (see the 5th grant below) — probably, thought Wu, due to the fact that determination had been a caller league connected the topic. This involves a developing, real satellite technology aimed astatine utilizing signals from the encephalon straight to prosecute with computers oregon different outer devices.

Wu admits this task was “pretty wild” and 1 of the astir speculative successful the contest. “What interests maine is that they interaction connected immoderate ethical elements successful this idea, due to the fact that erstwhile you’re sharing your thoughts with different people, you person to physique up a spot relationship. You’re enabling radical to work your mind.”

Best societal impact: Finding bosom successful Woven cities

All images shared nether Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Perhaps the cutest constituent present is the tiny (and frankly, stealable) robot dreamt up by 2 architecture students and a machine subject pupil funny successful nationalist health. “Basically, the robot is conscionable an agent, conscionable a platform, similar a repository for your thought oregon thought,” said Wu. It tin beryllium seen arsenic a mobile billboard.

The robot would roam freely truthful encounters with it would beryllium spontaneous. The genesis of the thought laic successful the isolation of the COVID epoch and anxiousness astir speaking with strangers. (Woven City is an imaginary community.)

Most Actionable: Interspace

“Interspace is betwixt intraspace and outer space,” explained Wu. The squad were reflecting connected the existent authorities of societal media that encourages individuals to contiguous an outer look to the world, rather abstracted from the interior abstraction of their ain thoughts and feelings oregon relationships with adjacent friends and household members.

“Those 2 spaces tin mingle,” said Wu. The last conception was a wristband (inspired by the Tamagotchi device) that easy allows users to toggle betwixt their interior aforesaid and outer marque erstwhile engaging with others.

Best bluish sky: Brain machine interfaces

Being capable to observe encephalon actvity similar alpha waves — that’s aged technology, Wu said. “I deliberation the newer 1 volition let you to person a much blase knowing of the signals from the encephalon and to analyse them.”

The imaginativeness present includes the revolutionizing of contented instauration arsenic good arsenic enactment for radical who are impeded successful the usage of a mean rodent and keyboard, for illustration by neurodegenerative disease.

What volition integer contented look similar successful the future?

Brandon Watts, a elder manager astatine Storyblok, explained however this archetypal collaboration with the Jacobs Institute came about. As a headless CMS, Storyblok tin nonstop contented to each kinds of existing devices and channels. “One of the things we’re astir funny successful is what benignant of contented platforms are going to beryllium successful the future,” Watts said, “and of people we tin speculate each time long, but we thought this was a chill accidental to spouse with Berkeley and get students connected the crushed to marque an educated conjecture astir wherever things mightiness go.”

The concepts whitethorn look ambitious but there’s ever a contented absorption element, Watts explained, due to the fact that the contented needs to beryllium stored and someway delivered. “With Storyblok, it doesn’t substance what level it is — it’s each API-driven — truthful we could beryllium communicating done a robot arsenic easy arsenic done a encephalon machine interface oregon thing similar that.”

The main takeaway? The aboriginal could beryllium overmuch much idiosyncratic and overmuch much inclusive. “Instead of companies blasting retired contented connected a cardinal antithetic channels, these visions were each precise one-to-one. What does that contented travel look like?’