Web 3.0 is the idea of a more powerful and smarter web that understands the information that it stores which will mean dramatically better web-search tools and the way we author and share content and build communities.
Today nearly every business and organisation is supported by an information system and since the mid 1990’s these systems have been able to communicate with one another via the Web with shared information universally accessible by anyone connected to the network. Emerging Web 3.0 applications, driven by semantic web technologies such as RDF, OWL and SWRL, offer powerful data organisation, combination, and query capabilities. There is a strong shared believe that pushing semantic data onto the web can create an online environment that is of better service and provides a richer experience for the user.
The Semantic (or meaningful) Web is now tipped to be the driving force behind the next generation of web technology. In the future this may include all of our personal information and every bit of data that we own, always available without disruption and integrated into everything that surrounds us. Every object we make (even physical) would have data in it, and all the screens we use, be it a cellphone, a TV or a desktop computer, would be windows into the same thing: the cloud. This web would demand complete transparency and co-dependency while it would constantly get smarter, more personalised and ubiquitous.
This raises serious issues regarding online privacy and the question must be, will humanity will give up privacy for the benefits of a highly personalised web. One of the biggest challenges for media companies facing a semantic web is that of ownership and access. If you share everything, you don’t need to own it. If you can have access to all the music in the world, then why would you want to buy it.
Kevin Kelly explains in his latest book, that one of the biggest opportunities lying out there for media companies is the value of immediacy and the desire for content on demand. As we become more connected the need for real time information or streams of content becomes essential and are patience on the web decreases. He believes in the future of media – copies will flow free, people will pay for something else of value to them, such as immediacy, authenticity, personalisation or embodiment.
The path of the world wide web is uncertain but with so much change in the last 20 years this is surely just the beginning, a semantic web in the future could mean having the access to all the worlds’ information instantly at the touch of the finger.