During a brief chat with Michael Hausenblas about a new Linked Data project he is championing called:
LForum, I made a freudian slip, in the
form of the typo: Evoluation, which at the time
was supposed to have been: Evolution. Anyway, we
had a chuckle and realized we were on to something, so I proceeded
to formalize the definition:
Evoluation is evolution devoid of the randomness
of mutation. A state of being in which it is possible to evaluate
and choose evolutionary paths.
Evoluation actually describes where we are
today in relation to the World Wide Web; to the Linking Open Data community (LOD), it's taking the path towards
becoming a Giant Global Graph of Linked Data; to the Web 2.0 community,
it's simply a collection of Web Services and associated APIs; and
to many others, it remains an opaque collection of interlinked
documents.
The great thing about the Web is that it allows netizens to
explore a plethora of paths without adversely affecting the paths
of others. That said, controlling one's path may take mutation out
of evolution, but we are still left with the requirement to adapt
and eventually survive in a competitive environment. Thus, although
we can evaluate and choose from the many paths the Web's evolution
offers us, the path that delivers the most benefits ultimately
dominates. :-)