Call for Papers
Cutter IT Journal
Joseph Feller, Guest Editor
Abstract Due: 21 May 2010
Articles Due: 30 June 2010

The Web as Platform: Opportunities and Challenges Abound

The Web 2.0 movement is now five years old, and we are thankfully moving
beyond the hype and starting to focus on putting the new Web to work.(1)
Although the edges of Web 2.0 as a technological revolution remain as blurry
as ever, at its core there is a single, clear idea: The Web as Platform.
Over the last decade, we have seen the Web evolve into an unprecedentedly
large and powerful computing platform in three key ways: as an execution
platform, as a development platform and as an interface for virtualized
hardware.(2) 

An Execution Platform. For an increasing number of Independent Software
Vendors (ISVs), the operating system of choice for new software products has
become either the Web as a whole, in the form of Rich Internet Applications
(RIAs), or individual Web sites like Facebook and iGoogle, in the form of
platform applications and widgets. This has created opportunities for ISVs
to reach new markets and to better service existing ones, to explore new
application spaces and to innovate existing desktop applications by
exploiting the inherent connectivity of a network native platform, to
re-imagine the software development lifecycle and the management of product
releases and upgrades, and to effectively realize the vision of delivering
Software as a Service (SaaS).

A Development Platform. XML Web Services and syndication technologies like
RSS have transformed the Web into a developer's toolkit of modularized
content and functionality components. This has changed the ways in which
firms create value online, by creating new opportunities for value-added
integrators and by shifting the focus of Web-based firms from stickiness
(increasing traffic and loyalty for a firm's Web site) to ubiquity
(increasing the Web-wide presence of a firm's content and functionality
across all sites). It has also provided developers with a constantly
evolving platform for Rapid Application Development (RAD) and an
infrastructure for the deployment of Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA),
and has stimulated downstream innovation in the form of Mash-ups (and,
indeed, user-created aggregations) of Web content and code.

An Interface for Virtualized Hardware. The Web as Platform has become an
important component of the broader cloud computing vision, providing an
interface for consumers to access and utilize remote storage, processing
power and other hardware resources. Most significantly, the Web has allowed
cloud computing to move from the data centers and back offices of large
enterprises onto the desktops of small firms and into the living rooms of
home users. 

However, the opportunities created by treating the Web as a Platform are
accompanied by significant challenges, both technological and otherwise. In
terms of technology, developers must deal with the constraints inherent in a
network native environment, which impact on both performance and security.
Likewise, the Web interface presents new challenges in terms of both
usability and accessibility. Finally, the Web as Platform depends on
interoperable standards -- at present we're faced with a variety of
competing standards -- both open and proprietary. Beyond technology, the Web
as Platform creates a variety of business challenges, including the
requisite legal frameworks for handling open development and innovation,
changes in the way we deal with customer, partner, vendor and competitor
relationships, privacy issues and intellectual property, and so on.

The August 2010 issue of Cutter IT Journal will examine the challenges and
opportunities created by the Web as an execution, development and hardware
platform.
 
TOPICS OF INTEREST MAY INCLUDE (but are not limited to) the following:

1. What are the technological enablers for realizing the Web as an
execution, development and hardware platform? What aspects of the necessary
infrastructure are in place and in what areas do we require more
standardization and innovation?

2. What are the legal enablers for realizing the Web as an execution,
development and hardware platform? How does the Web as Platform change the
way we manage intellectual property, privacy and so on?

3. What are the operational enablers for realizing the Web as an execution,
development and hardware platform? How does the Web as Platform change the
way we manage relationships with customers, partners, suppliers and
competitors?

4. What business models predicated on the Web as an execution, development
and hardware platform will emerge in the short-term future? What does the
Web as Platform mean for functionality and content providers? For
aggregators and other intermediaries?

5. What does the Web as Platform mean for enterprise architects and IT
managers? What opportunities and challenges does it create?

6. What does the Web as Platform mean for software engineers? How does it
impact on software development methodologies? On software quality? On the
release cycle?

7. What are the challenges of the Web as Platform in terms of security and
reliability?

8. What are the challenges of the Web as Platform in terms of usability and
accessibility?

9. What is the role of mobile technologies in the Web as Platform vision?

10. In what application spaces do we see developers going beyond simply
porting traditional applications to the Web and delivering truly innovative
software?

11. How does the ability to "remix" content and functionality (mash-ups)
stimulate innovation and create value?

12. What is the role of the Web browser in all of this? How is this
application space changing? How central is it to realizing the Web as
Platform vision? 

TO SUBMIT AN ARTICLE IDEA
Please respond to the Guest Editor, Joseph Feller at
jfeller[at]afis[dot]ucc[dot]ie, with a copy to itjournal[at]cutter[dot]com,
by 21 May 2010. Include an extended abstract and a short article outline
showing major discussion points.

ARTICLE DEADLINE
Accepted articles are due by 30 June 2010.

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES
Most Cutter IT Journal articles are approximately 2,500-3,500 words long,
plus whatever graphics are appropriate. If you have any other questions,
please do not hesitate to contact CITJ's Group Publisher, Christine Generali
at cgenerali[at]cutter[dot]com or the Guest Editor, Joseph Feller at
jfeller[at]afis[dot]ucc[dot]ie. Editorial guidelines are available at
<http://www.cutter.com/content-and-analysis/journals-and-reports/cutter-it-j
ournal/edguide.html>

AUDIENCE
Typical readers of Cutter IT Journal range from CIOs and vice presidents of
software organizations to IT managers, directors, project leaders, and very
senior technical staff. Most work in fairly large organizations: Fortune 500
IT shops, large computer vendors (IBM, HP, etc.), and government agencies.
48% of our readership is outside of the US (15% from Canada, 14% Europe, 5%
Australia/NZ, 14% elsewhere). Please avoid introductory-level, tutorial
coverage of a topic. Assume you're writing for someone who has been in the
industry for 10 to 20 years, is very busy, and very impatient. Assume he or
she will be asking, "What's the point? What do I do with this information?"
Apply the "So what?" test to everything you write.

PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
We are pleased to offer Journal authors a year's complimentary subscription
and five copies of the issue in which they are published. In addition, we
occasionally pull excerpts, along with the author's bio, to include in our
weekly Cutter Edge e-mail bulletin, which reaches another 8,000 readers.
We'd also be pleased to quote you, or passages from your article, in Cutter
press releases. If you plan to be speaking at industry conferences, we can
arrange to make copies of your article or the entire issue available for
attendees of those speaking engagements -- furthering your own promotional
efforts.

ABOUT Cutter IT Journal
No other journal brings together so many cutting-edge thinkers, and lets
them speak so bluntly and frankly. We strive to maintain the Journal's
reputation as the "Harvard Business Review of IT." Our goal is to present
well-grounded opinion (based on real, accountable experiences), research,
and animated debate about each topic the Journal explores.


PLEASE FORWARD THIS CALL FOR PAPERS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT HAVE AN APPROPRIATE
SUBMISSION.



1.See "Web 2.0 Revisted: Mapping the Evolution of the Phenomenon," Cutter
Benchmark Review, Vol. 10, No. 3, March 2010.
 
2. See Feller, Joseph. "The Web as Platform: What does it mean?" Parts 1-3,
Cutter Business Technology Trends and Impacts Advisory Service, Executive
Updates, Vol. 10, No. 2, 5 and 6.


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