W3C - Workshop on the Future of Social Networking – Position Paper

In recent years, we are witnessing the emergence of services which, coupled with new technologies, act as enablers for professional and private on-line collaboration via the Internet. This is creating new opportunities and challenges worldwide, both for individuals and for the ICT industry as a whole, leading the evolution of the Internet toward a more pervasive and user-centered based model where ambient intelligence and smart devices play an increasingly preeminent role. Nowadays, many European citizens spend work and leisure time in on-line communities, such as social networks or other real world communities that make use of on-line services to support their activities. The convergence of powerful communication and computing capabilities in smart devices, coupled with their intrinsic ubiquitous nature, enable community members and other involved stakeholders, to participate at the place and moment of their choice and in the way they prefer.