Monday, November 10, 2008

The way to watch Web evolution

Web evolution is not mysterious. Here is a straightforward rule to check whether a proposed design of the Web would be the next generation of World Wide Web: checking whether the new proposal precisely solves the center problem of the current Web.

For example, if we ask whether some proposal (such as the Semantic Web or the Mobile Web) would be Web 3.0, what we need to do is to check whether the proposed Semantic Web or the Mobile Web precisely solves the central problem of Web 2.0. It is just that straightforward.

The Web evolves forward but not jumping ahead. A new era always and only begins when it solves precisely the center problem of its instant former stage.

What is the central problem of Web 2.0? This is another topic and I will write a separate post on this particular issue later.

In summary, the following is a formal way to check Web 3.0, if anybody is interested.

1) Identify a fundamental of Web 2.0 that without it being fundamental Web 2.0 is no longer.

2) During Web 2.0, the number of instantiation of this fundamental must bloom. The blooming, however, would inevitably lead to certain severe trouble.

3) To solve the trouble, we will have to substantially modify the fundamental. In consequence, Web 2.0 loses its credential and the Web enters a new era, which could be Web 3.0.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yihong,

As per usual, concise, and to the point :-)

Data Silos are the clearest demonstrators of the limits of Web 2.0. Which is why the issue of Open Data Access (of which Data Portability is component) is the main component of the Web 2.0 to 3.0 inflection.

Basically, Web 2.0 doesn't address the following using in-built Web Architecture:
1. Identity (which you've already alluded to in this post)
2. Structured Data
3. Access to Structured Data

Kingsley

Yihong Ding said...

Kingsley,

Thank you.

I fully agree to your point. The portability of Web data is a critical issue. Moreover, the issue is reflected in various aspects. For instance, it is about identity when data portability is on personal information; it is about structured data and access to structured data when data portability is on Web site communication. To produce linked data is a solution to this problem. A question is, however, whether the linked data resolution is enough to solve the entire issue. We may still need to explore.

Yihong