Disintermediating the PC: a product centric view on Web 2.0

In this position paper, we chart the internet's transition to Web 2.0 and the accompanying rise in user generated content. We trace back this transition to social needs: people's need for a sense of identity and a sense of belonging. We point out that working with digital content has become near impossible without the use of a PC: the PC has established itself as the 'spider in the web' of content capturing and rendering devices. We then argue that if we accept Web 2.0 leisure activities as a predominantly social phenomenon, these activities belong in the living room. However, for a number of reasons the PC is poorly suited to use in a living room context. As an alternative to a system configuration with centralized, PC-based control, we suggest that a network of dedicated, networked devices may be better suited to the home context.