The Internet is evolving faster than anyone can imagine. Web 1.0 (1991 – 2003) was all about the availability of information. Everyone who was anyone had a website; .com, .net, .org, however viewers were unable to participate or contribute to the available content on the Web. Web 2.0 (2004 – present) is a version all about Social Networking - user-generated content, building connections and socializing. What’s next?
Web 3.0 – The Semantic Web
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, credited with inventing the World Wide Web, predicts the Internet will soon have the ability to understand services and information without any human direction and will be able to connect machine information with human information. Can you imagine our computers having the ability to read websites and comprehend that information almost as good as a person can? Some people predict Web 3.0 will equate to more 3-D (such as Secondlife.com) where people can go to a destination without physically leaving their living room.
I believe a big change in Internet technology will come sooner than later, probably within the next year or two. My guess is that the software developers and computer geeks who have been laid off during this recession have not been spending their time at home watching infomercials! They are planning, looking ahead to the future and hoping to get there before everyone else.
My prediction? When the dust settles on the economy we will begin to see what they have been tinkering away on. What are your predications for Web 3.0? More importantly, what do you hope to see?
