Content area
Full Text
Online Gravity
Paul X McCarthy
Simon & Schuster
Pp322
Rs 599
Online gravity? Now, what is that? Certainly not a new concept of physics. But author Paul X McCarthy illustrates in his new book how the concept of 'gravity' works in the online solar system, and how it is one of the most defining forces that shapes how the online world operates.
McCarthy's Online Gravity breaks down the working of the online world in simple, yet interesting terms. In the online solar system, the market leaders are the bigger planets (read Google (http://www.financialexpress.com/tag/google/), Amazon (http://www.financialexpress.com/tag/amazon/) and Alibaba), whereas their competitors and customers become the smaller planets. Just like the planets in our solar system, these big planets in the online world have their own gravitational fields, which attract customers: "The larger their network of users, the stronger their gravitational pull, so their growth rate starts to accelerate."
Online Gravity is essentially divided into three parts-the phenomenon of online gravity, which looks at its origin, characteristics and implications; the laws of online gravity, what they are and how they work; and the future of online gravity, which lists out the "optimistic and pessimistic predictions for the outcomes of the digital economy".
But what leads to online gravity? McCarthy cites three reasons-the democratic and social nature of knowledge, the digitisation of that knowledge and the astounding global connectivity of the Web. One interesting observation the author makes about 'information' is that it is now 'verging on...