Nowadays, people use the Internet in almost all aspects of their lives. Users gain benefits from Internet services that help them look for what they need.
Gone were the days when you have to be blind about a movie that you would want to watch, or a restaurant where you'd plan to eat. And heck, a lot of bad movies and bad food were wasted because of that.
But with evolution of the Web, you can now Google almost everything, be it a movie or restaurant review or everything else in between and find results. And before you even leave the house, you'll have knowledge and preparedness for such recreation. What is the next web revolution, then?
The only slight drawback with this is that it takes some important minutes away from your life. Because you have to separately search for "movie reviews" and "restaurant reviews", you will get separate results based on the keywords you typed in. Many Internet experts believe that this would soon be addressed, with Web 3.0.
Web 3.0 will help you search a few queries using just one complex sentence. With 3.0, you can now search for "I want to see the Amazing Spiderman 2 and then eat a burger. What are my options" instead of separate search queries. You will then get a response analyzed and organized by Web 3.0.
In addition, experts foresee Web 3.0 browsers to become virtual personal assistants that learn your interests, likes and dislikes in order to filter the results better.
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 was coined in 2005 by Dale Dougherty of O'Rielly Media. A lot of web experts reacted to this claim and said that it was just bogus marketing because there wasn't even any agreement that establishes a 1.0 version in the first place. However, it became a thing.
Here are a few characteristics of Web 3.0:
- Users can alter web pages. Product reviews from users is one great example of this. Amazon allows its visitors to review their products using an online form.
- Social Networking. The era of social networks began more than a decade ago with Friendster and MySpace; it reached its prime today. With the popularity of Facebook, Twitter and others, web pages have linked users to users.
- Immediate content sharing. Nowadays, everything has to come fast. Breaking news are more patronized than those which are stale. This is why Twitter and Youtube have become popular; they present the news in the fastest time possible.
- Innovations for information acquisition. Today, surfers can subscribe to websites RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and receive notifications in updates.
- Access to the Internet in non-Desktop Devices. Tablet computers and smartphones can now access the Internet, thus expanding the reach of information to many users.
Innovation of Search Engines
As I've said earlier, Internet experts believe that Web 3.0 will act like a personal assistant that becomes aware of what you like and dislike. While this is said to happen, other things are also expected for Web 3.0.
A Giant Database
Web 3.0 is said to be a giant database. As you may recall, Web 2.0 has been established as the Internet that connects users. Now that this has been well established, the Web now moves into making information connected. What does this mean?
This means that your search queries will be automated by the Internet itself. The Web 3.0 browser will answer your query using your previous searches and analyzes it. Your information will be linked to each other.
It would mean a great leap to search engines because, as of today, search engines base their results from keywords. If you type in your query, it will yield results that matches the keywords you look for.
But with 3.0, search engines will give you results based on the keywords you looked for and the context you used when typing the query.
Here are a few videos that could make you easily understand this topic.
Web 3.0 and Semantic Web
Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web in 1989, disputed the existence of Web 2.0 (and eventually 3.0) and called it "nothing more than a meaningless jargon".
However, Berners-Lee has his own concept of 3.0. He calls it the Semantic Web. According to him, the current Internet's structure is built for humans. We are able to browse pages and understand its content. However, computers lack that ability. Yes, it may be able to answer queries based on keywords but it cannot understand the context of the pages.
His Semantic Web tries to fill this gap. In this web structure, computers will be able to scan and interpret information using software agents that crawl throughout the Web. This is possible because Semantic Web have collected information in so-called ontologies.
Ontologies are files that define the relationship among terms and group of terms. It is considered one of the pillars of Semantic Web. They are usually accompanied by document under a formal ontology language.
Of course, these ontologies should be detailed, comprehensive and effective for Semantic Web to work. According to Berner's Lee, ontologies will come in metadata forms, which will be included in the code. This could take a lot of time and effort.
What's in It for Me?
As a web Designer and developer, what does Web 3.0 mean to you? Would the change of web structure affect your designs and your code?
- Web 3.0 will surely change design trends. Flat design is one domino piece in the falling dominoes of Web 3.0. With flat design focusing more on content and ease of access, it fits the new 3.0 revolution because it aims to organize content better.
- Web 3.0 will change how you code. With the inclusion of new metadatas that would help Semantic Web organize information better, we will surely add a few lines of code there.
Conclusion
The Web is changing. It has gone from being just a military tool to exchange information into something people can benefit from. And fearless forecast: It will continue changing. What does this mean for us, who use the Web in making the world a better place? It means that we have to evolve the same rate as the Web does. We have to evolve, or we die. Stagnancy has no place in our industry. Keep moving.
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