Expectation for the Internet of Tomorrow part -111

The computer shows were more than exercises in pretty pictures; they demonstrated new ways of digging deeply into the available data. For example, participants in the Virtual Surgery demonstration were able to use the National Medical Library's Visible Man and pick up a "virtual scalpel" to cut "virtual flesh." At another exhibit, a researcher demonstrated tele-robotics and tele-presence. While projecting a cyber-image of himself into the conference, the researcher worked from a remote console and controlled a robot who interacted with conference attendees.

Applications such as these are just the beginning, says DeFanti. Eventually the Internet will make possible a broader and more in-depth experience than is currently available. "We're taking the computer from the two-dimensional 'desktop' metaphor and turning it into a three-dimensional 'shopping mall' model of interaction," he says. "We want people to go into a computer and be able to perform multiple tasks just as they do at a mall, a museum, or even a university."