For this post, I'll be blogging about the future of the Internet!
So, in my first post, I briefly touched on how Tim-Berners Lee planned to make data more open and accessible to everyone. Seems rather vague isn't it?
Well, no worries, I'm going to elaborate about it in this post!
So, how does Berners-Lee intend to fulfill his objectives?
I believe this is going to be done through Web 3.0. Before I dive into what that is, we learnt in the first lesson that Web 1.0 is mostly read-only and Web 2.0 is wildly read-write.
So how does Web 3.0 differentiate from Web 1.0 and Web 2.0?
According to our lecture(if you were not paying attention), Web 3.0 is going to be more connected, open, and intelligent with semantic Web technologies, distributed databases, natural language processing, machine learning, machine reasoning, and autonomous agents.
The video illustrates how the Web has evolved over the years and how it is going to be even more interactive with higher levels of user-generated content which is predicted to be the driving force behind the future of the Internet. It then goes to elaborate on how semantic technology is going to support collaborative business models and social network application tools, leading to lower barriers in the Internet. The future Internet is going to be viewed as ubiquitous, pervasive, mobile and available 24/7. To sustain this, networks have to be re-engineered - new networks have to integrate all kinds of devices, increasing efficiency of the Internet.
Simply put, this Web 3.0 is going to make everyone more connected, which in turn allows data to be more open and accessible to everyone in the world.
The foundation for Web 3.0 is believed to be application programming interfaces (APIs) by some experts.
What is an API?
An API is an interface designed to allow developers to create applications that take advantage of a certain set of resources.
Many Web 2.0 sites include APIs that give programmers access to the sites' unique data and capabilities. For example, Facebook's API allows developers to create programs that use Facebook as a staging ground for games, quizzes, product reviews and more.
But what goes beyond Web 3.0?
Is there going to be a Web 4.0? Web 5.0? Web 500.0?
Well, according to technology expert and entrepreneur Nova Spivack, the development of the Web moves in 10-year cycles. In 1996, most of the development emphasized on the infrastructure (back end) of the Web where programmers created the protocols and code languages used to make Web pages. That was for Web 1.0. In 2006, the focus changed to the front end where people use Web pages as platforms for other applications. That's for Web 2.0 and it seems that the cycle for Web 2.0 is approaching its end. Web 3.0 is going to focus the shift back to the back end in which programmers will refine the Internet's infrastructure to support the advanced capabilities of Web 3.0 browsers.
And, once that phase ends, we'll enter the era of Web 4.0. Focus will return to the front end, and there'll be quite a number of applications from Web 3.0 being used as a foundation.
Here's a useful diagram that summarizes the focus of each generation of the Web.
Maybe, in the near future, we'll be seeing more interactive technologies and transformational innovation? Well, a lot of things can happen in a few years! But hopefully, this won't mean more distractions for us all!
Till my next post (which will be my last)! See ya!
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