Tuesday, May 22, 2012

What is the future of Web 2.0? Web 3.0?


To really understand the progression of the "web," and how it will continue to evolve, we need to establish a common understanding of what these 'versioned' phases imply.

Web 1.0 - The original development and release of the world wide web in 1993 presented the Internet traveling user with a very static interaction with hosted content.  In fact, to say interaction at all is a stretch.  A user was basically limited to reading and discovery through hyperlinks.  Websites and information present on the Internet was posted rarely and generally served to provide topical data based on the domains interests.

Web 2.0 - This is how we most commonly identify the modern Internet that features all of the functions and intractability that we observe and utilize.  The designs are user friendly and continue to press the boundaries of creating a stimulating experience.  Collaboration, interoperability, and user modified content are the essential elements that drive this modern experience where users feel part of a community.  The Web 2.0, as it would imply, is not an updated version of the Internet or any sort of network infrastructure.  It simply establishes how developers and users have created a new landscape that presents a much more highly sophisticated realm of possibility.

So, what comes next?  Web 3.0?  The next major phase of the web is disputed by IT professionals.  It could include significant updates in technical infrastructure, content creation, content delivery, personalization, or it may even include first-generation technologies we can't even predict yet.  One such theory includes the potential development of a "metaverse," where physical and virtual worlds join together to create simulations and augmented realities.  While this certainly correlates with modern interest in 3D technologies, it would seem that these sorts of possibilities are a bit further down the road.

If you consider the jump from 1.0 to 2.0 was primarily the community based social interactions, it would be safe to assume that 3.0 could be a very mild advancement such as the computer generated content and delivery.  Right now we have RSS feeds and various sources that are starting to study our behavior and patterns on the Internet to deliver the most relevant user experience on a person by person basis.  That presents a significant core upgrade from simple interaction, but is not such a broad leap to require inventions and seemingly distant future possibilities.

Consensus may never be reached, and the title of Web 3.0 may have to be retroactively applied to an era once we have determined we are already past it.  As I doubt they called the world wide web 'Web 1.0' at the time of it's conception, they were more likely to coin the term after they established the fluctuation into the Web 2.0 landscape.

Then, maybe we should start evaluating what Web 4.0 will introduce?

1 comment:

  1. I think the technology of tomorrow is something we cannot expect, predict, or even have an idea of yet. Much of what we have today was not conceived of 100 years ago. The stuff of science fiction from the past is reality today.

    The problem is protecting the information seeker. Privacy is going to become a real issue in the future. Right now library users have a certain amount of protection because their records are protected unless it is deemed a matter of security in a serious situation.

    I think it's a great future when I think of library users being able to access library collections wherever they are via their mobile phones or computers. The internet has already changed the way we access information, but now one must worry about privacy.

    Is what we're viewing private? Facebook collects information about what is viewed on the internet so as to better advertise to appropriate audiences. (Although wouldn't that be a nice thing for a mobile library app? Like this book? You may also like...) Email isn't secure (as I'm reminded in every pre-deployment brief) and so we can assume that what we are reading/viewing from library collections on our mobile devices may also be unsecured.

    Is this lack of privacy protection something that library users must just accept if they will use their mobile devices in conjunction with library mobile technologies?

    But then again, maybe we're entering a time when public knowledge of an individual's movements isn't such a big deal. After all twitter and facebook status updates make hundreds of people aware of an individual's movements. Will library usage be like these status updates in the future and will library users care?

    Status Update:

    Megan Baule is reading "She Says" by Venus Khoury-Ghata and "The Summer of Ordinary Ways" by Nicole Helget.

    Press Like or Dislike.

    Want a link to these or similar library listings? Click here #

    Hey.... Perhaps we could gain more readers after all if they could just click the link to find the same books their friends are reading.

    ReplyDelete