Just as we keep hearing and reading enough about Web 2.0
to realize that something “hypernew” is happening
to the web, here is another term to digest: Web 3.0. Though
still obscure to the public at large, the term is not that
new. Sources in the blogosphere have been referring to it
since 2005. But trying to charter Web 3.0 is a somewhat elusive
task as it is still in its infancy.
A short history of web progress
Everyone
past high-school age remembers “Web 1.0," the
static websites of the early ‘90s that didn’t
seem to be entirely sure of their purpose in life! Yet
as the number of websites proliferated, businesses jumped
on the band wagon and the Web started to evolve. Content
portals, business-to-business applications and search engines
were developed; email became the uncontested king in corporate
and personal communication; and bulletin boards and forums
emerged as forms of social interaction.
As network capacity improved, instant messaging and voice
over IP (VOIP) became possible and then moved into
the mainstream. Images and videos became faster to
download, auction sites, graphical interaction, wikies, RSS
feeds became popular, and blogging exploded. With mobile
devices becoming increasingly affordable and versatile, the “always-on-you” web
was also born. A name was bestowed on all this: Web 2.0.
Social networking over the web is now very popular, and
collaboration on a planetary scale - for business or
play – has
become possible like never before.
The future is now
Continuing to push the boundaries of knowledge management,
computer scientists and a growing number of IT companies
are in the early stages of developing Web 3.0. The goal
is to create intelligent mapping systems that sort information
more effectively, with search engines generating results
that act like personal advisors rather than catalogues.
Skeptics are questioning whether this kind of vision is
attainable. But web sites that attempt to add useful layers
of meaning to the vast amount of information available on
the Internet are already here. Sites such as del.icio.us
and Flickr encourage users to evaluate Internet content in
a shared, social manner.
On these sites, users create tags that are meaningful to
them and to others. These tags allow them to label and retrieve
sites, documents, photos and other information on the Web.
Social search engines take tagging one step further by establishing
relevance to the user. An example of this is tallstreet.com,
which has users trading and investing in search results in
a similar way to the stock market. Sites deemed useful by
the majority of users are propelled to the forefront of searches.
But Web 3.0 has the potential to far exceed these capacities.
Visionaries see a role for artificial intelligence in imitating
our ability to determine what we need in response to a set
of parameters. Websites may be able to help us make decisions
by providing advice that helps us to choose the right university,
select a vacation or develop a retirement plan. The possibilities
are seemingly endless. And given the recent pace of change
in information technology, it should come as no surprise
if these possibilities are the norm in as little as 5-10
years.
This is the first in a series of articles that will explore
the future of the World Wide Web.
Selective sources:
http://web2dot5.blogspot.com/
http://novaspivack.typepad.com/nova_spivacks_weblog/2007/02/steps_towards_a.html
http://novaspivack.typepad.com/nova_spivacks_weblog/2003/12/the_birth_of_th.html
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