• by Lydia Loizides , Op-Ed Contributor, November 15, 2006

According to an article in The New York Times this weekend, we have graduated to yet another level of the Web. It is called Web 3.0, and it is being germinated by the likes of IBM, Amazon, Google and others who are searching for greater meaning from the vast expanse of content on the Internet.

Now, just so we have the ground rules: Web 2.0 is what we are experiencing right now --that being the ability to connect applications and services over the Internet. The genesis of the concept of Web 2.0 was founded in a brainstorming session between Tim O'Reilly and MediaLive International. Here are some examples:

Web 1.0: DoubleClick; Web 2.0: Google AdSense
Web 1.0: Ofoto; Web 2.0: Flickr
Web 1.0: Akamai; Web 2.0: BitTorrent
Web 1.0: mp3.com; Web 2.0: Napster
Web 1.0: Britannica Online; Web 2.0: Wikipedia
Web 1.0: personal Web sites; Web 2.0: blogging
Web 1.0: evite; Web 2.0: upcoming.org and EVDB
Web 1.0: domain name speculation; Web 2.0: search engine optimization
Web 1.0: page views; Web 2.0: cost per click
Web 1.0: screen scraping; Web 2.0: Web services
Web 1.0: publishing; Web 2.0: participation
Web 1.0: content management systems; Web 2.0: wikis
Web 1.0: directories (taxonomy); Web 2.0: tagging ("folksonomy")
Web 1.0: stickiness; Web 2.0: syndication

Source: "What Is Web 2.0--Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software, "Tim O'Reilly, 09/30/2005

It would appear that we are indeed in the midst of Web 2.0. So why on earth are we talking about Web 3.0? Because the impact of these next-generation applications will necessarily change the way corporations and consumers interact with and amongst each other. We are seeing the beginnings of this in text-mining technology like Web Fountain, Engenium, Linguamatics, and even our own PropheSEE", which our group has been using to measure, analyze and extract insight from user-generated content that relates to brands and content.

Many of you have heard me drone on and on about these concepts--meaning and relevancy and context. But achieving this nirvana for consumers using the current set of tools has been elusive at best. The promise of Web 3.0 (otherwise known as the semantic Web in some circles) is that there will be a layer of meaning that will evolve over the existing Web and will eventually be able to sustain systems that will be able to reason--just like you and me.

Think about that for a moment. You could enter a search query like, "I am looking for the safest car with the best gas mileage for under $40,000"--and out would come the answer. No sifting, no clicking , no wading though pages of links. You could build an application that could gather intelligence in real time about user behavior and past experiences that would be used to filter current contextual requests. You could even create on-demand systems based on predictive adaptability intelligence that could deliver truly personalized experiences.

Now while I appreciate that this seems all a bit far-fetched, I am going to ask you to suspend your disbelief for a moment and consider the following: 10 years ago the Web was a smattering of flat, primarily static HMTL pages; today it is a robust network of audio, video and integrated dynamic applications that allow us to do everything from shop to bank to earn a degree. As the complexity of the Web grows and users evolve, so will the need to provide better, faster and more relevant experiences. And while I appreciate that we haven't fully capitalized or commercialized on Web 2.0 (we are still figuring that one out) that doesn't mean that we shouldn't have our sights set on the future. Wouldn't you agree? You tell me.