It is common knowledge that the internet affects our day-to-day life activities. And how our society has also changed for the better with the internet. How beautiful would it be if there is a new type of internet that does not just interpret precisely what you type but also understands everything you are trying to pass across be it through text, voice or every other media. An internet where every content is given to you in a more modified manner like never before. That is exactly what Web 3.0 is like. Now what exactly is Web 3.0?
What Is Web 3.0?
The web, which is also known as “www”-world wide web, is an information system which enables documents and other web resources to be accessed by users over the internet. The World Wide Web has helped billions of people to create a stable and reliable infrastructure with the help of centralization.
Web 3.0(Web 3) is the upcoming third generation of web technology which would be able to process information like smart humans with technologies like machine learning(ML), decentralized ledger technology(DLT), etc. Web 3.0 was first called the Semantic Web by the World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. He was one of those who advocated for the integration of semantic technology into the web.
Web 3.0 is still being developed so there is no universal accepted definition. But one thing that is crystal clear about Web 3.0 Is the fact that Web 3.0 would lay a strong emphasis on decentralized applications and make comprehensive use of blockchain based technology. It would also be using machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) for intelligent and adaptive applications. Web 3.0 is verifiable, trustless, self-governing and permissionless.
Evolution Of The Web
Majority thinks the web was just invented and existed. But most of us now know today that it is very different from how it was imagined. It took more than 10 years to transform from the original web which is the Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 which is expected so as to fully implement and reshape the web with the Web 3.0.
The Web 3.0 would be born out of a natural evolution of older generation web tools with a combination of cutting-edge technologies and interconnection between users and the growing internet usuals.
Web 1.0 (1990-2004)
Web 1.0 which is also called the Static Web was the first most reliable internet in the 1990’s. In 1989 at CERN in Geneva, Tim Berners-Lee was developing the protocols that were to become the World Wide Web. He wanted to create open decentralized protocols that allowed information sharing from anywhere in the world.
The initiation of Berners-Lee’s creation was the Web 1.0 which came between 1990 to 2004. It was mainly static websites owned by companies alone. It has almost no interaction between users which leads to it being known as the read-only web.
Web 2.0 (2004-now)
The period of the Web 2.0 which is also known as the Social Web began in 2004 when the social media platforms came into existence. It wasn’t just read-only but was evolved to be read-write. It wasn’t just used by companies providing content to users but also began to provide platforms which could share user-generated content and also engage user-to-user interactions.
It made the internet very interactive all thanks to the advancement in web technologies like JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, etc. It brought up interactive web platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Wikipedia, etc. The more people came online, most high ranking companies began to control a large amount of traffic and value which the web generated. The Web 2.0 also gave rise to the adverts driven revenue where not only can users create content, they can also publish it and also benefit from its monetization.
Even though Web 2.0 brought stunning free services, most people have gotten tired of it because the tech companies who created them with the new walled garden want to have control over their data and content. This is where Web 3.0 comes in. It is understood as the read-write-own phase of the internet. Instead of using free tech platforms in exchange for user’s data, users can now govern and operate the protocols themselves. The Web 3.0 is the future of the internet because with that the internet would be more intelligent.
How Does Web 3.0 Work?
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) defines the layout and delivery of web pages in Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 technologies. HTML would still be the foundational layout of Web 3.0 but the way it connects to data sources and where those data sources stay would be kind of diggers from the first generations of the web.
A lot of websites and applications in the Web 2.0 era depend on some form of centralized database to deliver data and enable it function. As for Web 3.0, decentralized blockchain would be used instead of centralized database applications and services. With blockchain, there would be no arbitrary central authority but a form of distributed consensus. The idea of block chain and Web 3.0 is the concept of decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Instead of a centralized authority to govern the operations of a platform, DAO, Web 3.0 technology and communities would provide a form of self governance in the decentralized approach.
Web 3.0 would also work with cryptocurrency. The ability to pay for goods and services with a decentralized form of payment would be enabled in Web 3.0 with the use of cryptocurrencies which are built and enabled in the blockchain technology.
Key Features Of Web 3.0
Web 3.0 as already known by most is the next stage of the internet. Web 3.0 would be constructed with the following:
Ubiquity
This is the capacity to be everywhere at the same time. It can be called omnipresent. Indeed Web 2.0 is already ubiquitous. Like when an Instagram user takes a picture and posts it on Instagram, it becomes ubiquitous because it is available to anyone regardless of where they are as long as they have access to Instagram.
But Web 3.0 makes it better by making the internet accessible to everyone anywhere in the world at any time. As time goes on, internet connected devices wouldn’t only be focused on computers and smartphones alone like Web 2.0 since IoT (Internet of Things) technology will bring forth a whole lot of new smart devices.
Semantic Web
Semantic is the study of the relationship between words. The Semantic Web according to Berners-Lee would allow computers to be able to analyze data like contents and transactions between people from the Web. With semantics, the Web would enable machines to decode meaning and emotions by analyzing data. This way internet users will enjoy a better experience driven by enhanced data connectivity.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence is simply known as the Intelligence demonstrated by machines. Since Web 3.0 can read and understand the meaning and emotions passed by a set of data, then intelligent machines come to play. Even though Web 2.0 has the same capability, it is done by humans and it is open to a lot of data manipulations like rigged ratings, etc. It would allow online platforms to sift data and adapt to each user’s liking.
3D Graphics and Spatial Web
Some people have also called Web 3.0 the Spatial Web because its goal is to obscure the line between the physical and the digital by transforming graphics technology by bringing the three dimensional (3D) virtual worlds. Unlike 2D, 3D graphics bring a whole new level of immersion not only in futuristic games but also in other sectors like health, e-commerce, etc.
But there are some key features to the Web 3.0 which would help define the third genre of the web. These include:
Decentralized: The first two generations of the web, the governance and applications were greatly centralized but Web 3.0 will be decentralized so applications and services will be enabled in a distributed way where there would be no central authority.
Blockchain-based: The enabler of all decentralized applications and services is blockchain. With it the data and connection of services are distributed in a way that is different from the centralized database infrastructure.
Cryptocurrency Enablement: The use of cryptocurrency in the Web 3.0 services is very important and would greatly replace the use of fiat currency.
Autonomous And Artificially Intelligent: The most important feature of Web 3.0 is the overall automation and these automation would be powered by artificial intelligence (AI)
Applications Of Web 3.0
The common requirement of Web 3.0 is its ability to digest large-scale information and turn it into factual knowledge for the execution of users. The applications of Web 3.0 are in their early stages so there would be a lot of improvement on how Web 3.0 apps would function. Some companies like Amazon, Google and Apple are now transforming into Web 3.0 applications. Examples of such applications are Siri and Wolfram Alpha.
Other applications of Web 3.0 are NFT(Non Fungible Tokens), DeFi(Decentralized Finance), Cryptocurrency and DAO as mentioned before, dApps(Decentralized Apps) and Cross Chain Bridges.
With Web 3.0 the internet would provide a more personal and customized browsing experience, a smarter and human-like search assistant and many more decentralized benefits that would establish a better equitable web. This can only be achieved by empowering individuals to become rulers over their data and also creating a better experience with tons of innovations that are yet to come.