Understanding Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is a vague and difficult to define IT trend. A scan of available literature comes up with numerous definitions which further add to its ambiguity. Some people argue that it is about semantic web, personalisation, intelligent searching and behavioral advertising. Others see it as the proliferation of the mobile revolution and location based sensors. One group sees it as being capable of creating a virtual Web.

 

Web 3.0, as the name suggests is the result of an evolutionary process. To understand what Web 3.0 is, one needs to recognise its predecessors, namely Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Web 1.0 was about connecting information and making it available on the internet. It is can also be referred to as the ‘read only’ Web. An example of Web 1.0 is a hotel website that offers basic information about location, number of rooms, check-in times, etc.  

 

Web 2.0 went beyond simply providing information on the internet by allowing users to interface with the internet. It brought a social dimension to the information or ‘read only’ Web. Under Web 2.0 the hotel website enables users to make online reservations, check room availability, and provide feedback on satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Common phenomena that can be categorised under Web 2.0 technologies are Wikipedia, social networking and blogging.

 

Web 3.0 which is also known as the ‘intelligent’ or semantic Web is about providing meaning to the information on the Web, and providing this knowledge in a way that is relevant, useful and enjoyable to the user. Web 3.0 would enable a user to get real-time information about hotel room availability, pictures of the view from the hotel rooms, customer feedback about the hotel, nearby attractions based on the user’s preference history, etc. For example, while you decide to reserve a room at a hotel, a Web 3.0 technology can book you a table at a restaurant that is close by and because it knows you haven’t hired a car, organise a shuttle for you too.

The diagram below illustrates the differences between the three Web versions.

 

Figure 1: Differences between Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 (Source: Agarwal 2009)

This ‘intelligent Web’ is made possible by layering semantic web technologies over Web 2.0 and frameworks that link data from multiple databases and websites. Web 3.0 is sometimes called the semantic Web precisely because of its use of semantic web technologies.

 

Spivac (2006) broadens the definition of Web 3.0 and sees it as also being influenced by the maturity of certain trends such as ubiquitous connectivity, network computing, open technologies and open identity.

 

References

 

Spivac, N., (2006), Web 3.0: The Third Generation Web is Coming, Available Online: http://lifeboat.com/ex/web.3.0[Accessed 20 September 2013]

Agarwal, A., (2009) Web 3.0 Concepts Explained in Plain English, Available Online: http://www.labnol.org/internet/web-3-concepts-explained/8908/[Accessed 20 September 2013]