Web 3.0 describes the next evolution of the World Wide Web. The term “Web 3.0” has been around for quite some time, but what exactly does it mean? The true definition of Web 3.0 has been unclear since it was created. In trying to understand the concept, it is important to keep in mind that Web 3.0 is more of a buzzword and does not clearly define anything.

the semantic web

The term Web 3.0 is very often mentioned in conjunction with “the semantic web”. Some people refer to the semantic web as equivalent to Web 3.0, others consider the semantic web to be part of Web 3.0. However, what does “the semantic web” mean?

Peter Berkel has made a clever example in an attempt to make sense of the semantic web. Let’s take the words Paris Hilton; Is there really anyone who is thinking of the Hilton Hotel in Paris? The meaning (semantics) of these two words can be interpreted in multiple ways.

To understand semantics on the web, we must also look at syntax. If we use the sentence “Mike loves Kate”, the syntax refers to the composition and structure of the sentence. The semantics indicate that Mike really likes Kate. If we change “loves” to a heart symbol, the syntax will change but the semantics will remain the same.

In the example of Paris Hilton we see a reverse situation, in which there are multiple semantics but only one syntax.

In communication between computers on the network, syntax plays an important role. When you request a website to appear in your browser, you are actually making a request to a web server. This server looks for your request and returns it in HTML format. Your browser reads the HTML syntax and translates it into a designed page. The meaning of what is on this page will remain unknown to the computer.

The same thing happens when we search for information on the internet. A search engine searches billions of pages to find the keywords you requested. It will then show you a list of pages that include the keywords you were looking for. The search engine knows what keywords are found on these pages, but the actual content of the pages is unknown. This could be compared to teaching a parrot a couple of words, which it will reply to without knowing the actual meaning of the words.

Using this analogy, today’s web can be thought of as a “document web.” All of these documents are linked to each other in one way or another, but for web applications, the content of these documents is not defined. However, the content is what interests us. These documents are about people, history, companies, countries, etc. At this point we are no longer talking about documents, but about “entities” that are inside these documents. The goal of the semantic web is to allow computers to understand the entities within these documents.

So, the semantic web gives meaning to entities on web pages and the relationships between those entities. Unlike the current web, this would be a web of entities.

The benefits of the semantic web

So now that we have a better understanding of the semantic web, how can we benefit from it? Take the example of Paris Hilton. If a search engine understood that I was trying to find a Hilton hotel in Paris, all results about celebrity Paris Hilton could be excluded. This leads to better, more accurate and faster results. This is still a simple and basic example. The next step would be an application that understands that Hilton is a hotel in Paris, which can offer me more services. If you are looking for a Hilton hotel in Paris, you can find a Hilton hotel, while you can book a flight to Paris along with a restaurant to eat. This makes the results of your request much more valuable.

Perhaps this sounds quite familiar; when you book a flight, you will be asked if you also want to rent a car. However, this question has been asked through a cooperation of multiple web applications. In the semantic web it is not necessary to make cooperation or agreements since all the information is universally available.

The semantic web will have a large-scale availability of information. There are roughly two different approaches that will lead to a semantic web: the bottom-up approach and the top-down approach.

The bottom-up approach involves adding information to all existing documents on the Internet and making them understandable for web applications. This ‘information’ describes the entities on a web page and all of their relationships. This can be done through RDF or Microformats.

Supporters of the top-down approach find the bottom-up approach highly impractical. They don’t believe in a fully annotated Internet. The top-down approach supports the development of applications that can have a better understanding of the data in the documents. Think of tracking the meaning of entities outside of the context of a page, but primarily applications that can understand natural/logical language. Hakia (hakia.com) and (powerset.com) are search engines that try to understand English the way humans understand it.

Whichever approach is used, the web will be more meaningful and valuable. All entities will gather a cloud of attributes and relationships. One danger would be information overload. Ideally, we only want to absorb information that piques our interest. The need for ‘personalized information’ will continue to grow in importance.

Personal preferences

Personal preferences may be under the control of the user. The APML (Attention Profile Markup Language) working group has been working on this concept. Your profile in APML can be viewed as a file with your personal preferences. Web applications can read this file, which results in your information being filtered based on their own interests.

An even greater amount of profile information will be outside of users’ control. Right now, organizations like Google, Amazon, and Yahoo are recording the click behavior of their visitors. In a semantic web this information will be much richer. Much more is known about the people who visit their websites. Alongside that, the web is becoming more ubiquitous. We are in contact with the Internet all the time and will do so more and more; in our browser, our mobile, our car, home devices, etc. Web applications will be able to record information everywhere. Profiles will be created full of information about you, without you realizing it.

Within this new relationship between the Web and its users, marketers will have to ‘slip into someone else’s conversation’. Brands will have to be relevant to the situation, the environment and the wishes of the user. When the semantic web is realized and successful, it will create a great deal of information sharing between organizations and individuals, producing a new level of searchability and knowledge sharing.