The 'semantic Web', 'cloud computing' and 'Web 2.0' are some of the terms you might be hearing in relation to the next-generation Internet of everything.

I get such terms thrown at me every day, some within increasingly more precise meaning as the particular concept gets finessed in the making, while others are extremely fuzzy, with different meanings according to the speaker.

Next week ministers from 30 of the world's most technologically advanced countries will be meeting in Seoul, Korea to discuss the future of the Internet economy, so expect to hear some of those terms bandied about.

The meeting will be important for all those running Internet businesses, as it will reveal future policies.

Governments are coming around to the idea of encouraging an Internet economy, more so than they have in the past.

Well let us hope so, because while there is a necessary focus on regulation and oversight, there has not been enough promotion and investment into policies that would encourage and help those in the sector.

In an advance paper, the Organisation for Co-operation and Development (OECD) says the government ministers will examine policies on communications networks.

Some of the issues surrounding the new fibre optic networks that are springing up relate to the incumbent telephone companies.

Governments are concerned that incumbent telephone companies may create barriers by creating such new networks and shutting down effective competition.

The OECD notes that the ongoing convergence of video, voice and data can lead to more competition in individual markets.

However the trend is now also toward the integration of infrastructures, market and services, and here the OECD is worried that the few companies that can bundle such elements would come to dominate their markets.

In terms of policy, the OECD researchers believe that since the rollout of fibre networks will take place first in cities, the urban-rural digital divide will widen further.

OECD governments will also have to figure out how to allocate spectrum equitably to cater for the rapidly growing use of wireless technologies, especially for mobile TV or other such services.

So, for the record, what is the 'semantic Web'?

The term basically describes an unrealised concept of somehow marking out Web content or data so many tasks, including searches, can be automated. Perhaps the concept would best be labelled the 'machine Web'.

In such a world, outlined by Tim Berners-Lee, information would be made more understandable by computers, allowing tasks such as searches, data sharing and data combination to be automated.

Meanwhile 'cloud computing' describes a means of automating the sharing of processing power or computing resources over a computer grid. The resources could include applications and services that may be bought as needed.

Web 2.0 is a fuzzy concept of how the Web will be employed in a different way for creating communities of like-minded people, or for hosting services that users and businesses can buy as they need.

I cannot find a better definition that the above. Can you?

If you want to give your opinion on the future Internet in relation to business, the OECD has created a YouTube speakers' corner.

The question is: How can the Internet make the world a better place?

Put your opinions up at www.youtube.com/futureinternet

The best videos uploaded to the corner will be shown to the ministers and others at the event They will be invited to react and their answers will be uploaded on YouTube during the meeting.

The Seoul meeting takes place on June 17-18 2008.

The other day I was telling a much younger friend about the famous cartoon published by The New Yorker in 1993. The cartoon is of a dog sitting before a computer and telling another dog: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."

I looked it up on Wikipedia to check and found that the real kicker to the cartoon, a modern version, is the other dog's answer: "But they know you buy dog food."

Send any comments to Ahmed at elamin.ahmed@gmail.com