Web and Internet Related Articles

The Next Internet

Web 2.0 has bloomed, and perhaps the seeds for Web 3.0 have been planted

By Paul Lear, Nu-Designs Staff

According to Wikipedia, “Web 2.0” refers to an evolution that has occurred on the Internet from static sites built by individuals (and perhaps corporate committees) to a second generation of sites which are interactive community and social-networking sites. These types of sites include forums, wikis and other user-controlled “Web worlds.” The key component of these on-line environments is the collaboration and sharing in and among a user community, generally focused on a specific topic.

While Web 2.0 has clearly grown and evolved during the last several years, the term suggests that a “revision” of the World Wide Web has taken place. The Internet hasn't really changed in a technically significant way, it’s more that the rules of use have been altered, opening the door to allow the world at large to contribute to the content of a particular site.

You can view Web 2.0 applications in a couple of ways: they can be seen as the ultimate in collaboration, or as a nightmare for IT managers trying to keep some measure of quality control over with their Web sites. Web 2.0 applications have at least some of the following positive elements:

• The content is fresh and often useful
• Content can be altered, corrected, or enhanced by others
• The Web becomes a conduit for a group's interactivity
• There is an underlying trust that the content and its sources are reliable

 

Web 2.0 is everywhere; common examples of applications and services are RSS web feeds, Wikipedia and thousands of mashups which mix and match information with visual tools such as Google's maps.

So what is being touted as the next Web? What is Web 3.0?

There is an underlying current today that imagines Web 3.0 as a more “automated Web,” one driven by a “discovery of information” that might interest you—the willing Web participant.

For example: Imagine for a moment you can log on to your “Personal Web Assistant” [PWA] and describe the events, activities, friends or tastes in clothes that interest you the most. The “Assistant” is then tasked with pushing information to you based on these guidelines. The PWA would update you with the latest news, restaurants or fashion trends, or perhaps even interact with other PWAs and schedule a lunch date on your behalf one day (after your new clothes arrive, of course).

Clearly the virtual language needed to construct a Web 3.0 application will be the first step—and is probably years off, right? Not so. There is already work being done in an area referred to as “The Semantic Web,” the goal of which will be a more natural language approach to virtual communications with these Web agents that perform tasks on your behalf.

This is the type of interpretive enabling technology that will allow you to tell your PWA to “schedule lunch” or “I need a vacation” —technology which tells your Web 3.0 agent enough about you and your lifestyle choices to guide you into a new level of automated personal assistance. Hold on tight.

 

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