Like any other technology, the web is evolving, and it is evolving quite rapidly. Due to the lack of standards, there seems to be a bit of bewilderment regarding its evolution and versions, but the most acceptable stages of evolution are as follows:
- Internet 1.0
- web 2.0
- Web 3.0 (also known as the Semantic Web)
So what is the difference between these versions?
Web 1.0: Internet before 1999, experts call it read-only era. The role of the average Internet user was limited solely to reading the information presented to him. The best examples are the millions of static websites that proliferated during the .com boom. There was no active communication or information flow from the consumer of the information to the producer of the information.
Web 2.0: The lack of active interaction of the common user with the web led to the birth of Web 2.0. The year 1999 ushered in an era of reading, writing, and publishing with notable contributions from LiveJournal (launched April 1999) and Blogger (launched August 1999). Now even a non-technical user can actively interact and contribute to the web using different blogging platforms. This era empowered the common user with some new concepts viz. Blog, social media and video streaming. Publishing your content is just a few clicks away! Some notable developments of Web 2.0 are Twitter, YouTube, eZineArticles, Flickr, and Facebook.
Web 3.0: It looks like we have everything we’ve ever wanted in Web 2.0, but it’s way behind when it comes to intelligence. Perhaps a six year old has better analytical skills than existing search technologies! Web 2.0’s keyword-based search resulted in information overload. The following attributes are going to be part of Web 3.0:
- contextual search
- custom search
- custom search
- Evolution of the 3D Web
- Deductive reasoning
Although the Web has yet to see anything that qualifies as quite intelligent, efforts to achieve this goal have already begun. 2 weeks ago, the official Google blog mentioned how Google’s search algorithm is now getting smart as it can identify many synonyms.
For example, Images and photos are now treated with a similar meaning. From now on, your GM Crop search query will not take you to the GM (General Motors) website. Why? Because, by first identifying synonyms, Google will understand that GM can stand for General Motors or Genetically Modified. So from context, that is, from the keyword crop, it will deduce that the user wants information about genetically modified crops and not about General Motors. Similarly, GM cars won’t get you into genetically modified crops. Give it a try for yourself to see how this newly added artificial intelligence at Google works. Also, there are many websites built on Web 3.0 that customize your search. In fact, the web is getting smarter.