Web 3.0

In 1989, the World Wide Web as we know it came into existence. It was always intended it to be an interface for the Internet as well as a way that people could share information with one another. While the expression, 'Web 2.0', may have been a clever marketing term used to describe the new web environment that emerged after the dot com crash of 2000, 'Web 3.0' promises to deliver those rich internet experiences via the semantic web.




Computers using the semantic web would scan and interpret information on web pages using software agents. These agents will crawl through the web, searching for relevant information via what we refer to as metadata, like keywords and tags.

Even though semantic publishing already exists, the world wide web has not traditionally been its realm. "Semantic publishing will benefit greatly from the semantic web. In particular, the semantic web is expected to revolutionize scientific publishing, such as real-time publishing and sharing of experimental data on the Internet."*1

At the heart and soul of the semantic web's use of metadata will be what are called 'ontologies'. An ontology is simply a collection of information in a file. That file defines the relevancy among the terms. Various new ontology formats include web ontology language known as OWL and RDF or Resource Data Framework. Various new data interchange formats will come to the forefront. Ones like RDF/XML are already here. Newer formats like N3 and Turtle will also become more prevalent.

Many are envisioning the new Web 3.0 as being more like having a personal assistant. A Web 3.0 search engine could find not only the keywords in your search, but also interpret the context of your request, better than our current technology allows.

Web 3.0 holds a great deal of promise, but as the enabling technologies advance, the very basic question still needs to be answered. Will Web 3.0 replace the current Web or, instead, exist as a separate network altogether?


1.) Semantic Web - Wikipedia - Semantic Publishing