The New Web 3.0.... Extra Credit

After evaluating web 2.0 and 3.0, as well as looking at how the internet has been evolving over time, I think that web 3.0 will continue to advance and work even better for the users with time. As society has progressed technology has gone through so many changes and advancements. We now use technology for so many aspects of our everyday lives. It does at certain points seem as though we have become completely dependent on technology now. In my opinion I agree with Kelly in that the machines are an extension of humans and not the opposite as Mcluhan claimed. Kevin Kelly discussed his opinion on the connection between humans and machines which was opposite of what Mcluhan discussed.

In the article “How Web 3.0 Will Work” by Jonathan Strickland he discusses how the new web 3.0 could work for us and show many changes. He begins by using an example of someone who wants to go out to see a comedy movie and then to dinner afterwards. Changes that web 3.0 could offer us is the ability to do what we would call “one stop shopping.” With web 3.0 we could possibly enter in the question “I want to see a funny movie and then eat at a good Mexican restaurant. What are my options?” Strickland says that the new internet will be able to analyze this question and the possible answers and filter out results which directly apply to your question. He goes on to discuss the possibility of the web 3.0 acting almost as a personal assistant, in that the internet will be able to learn and pinpoint things that the individual user is interested in. The internet is going to get increasingly interactive as it continues to improve. In the future of web we may not need to choose what we are interested in or looking for but the web may be able to do this for you.

The author claims that in order to understand where web 3.0 is going, we need to see what the web has evolved from but web 2.0 is not very widely understood. One of the main characteristics of web 2.0 is the ability for users to alter certain websites in which you can post or edit the information to add your opinion or point of view. There are also now many website in which users create the content, such as youtube, blogs, Wikipedia, etc. Also, the popularity of social networking websites has exploded in the past century. Some of the most popular websites currently are Facebook and Twitter which are social networking websites. Web 2.0 is also characterized by the ability to access it anywhere without any wires or cords allowing wireless connection on many other technology devices, not just computers.

In “Web 3.0” by Cade Metz the changes of web 2.0 to web 3.0 are discussed. Web 3.0 is also called the Semantic Web which is a term coined by Tim Berners-Lee, which is the inventor of the World Wide Web. Although the web 3.0 has many positive effects, there are many people who are very skeptical of the changes of the internet. These people are generally not interested in keeping up with the new developments and feel left behind with all of the new changes. These people are generally people who do not support any technological advancement.

In my opinion the new advancements in the current web 2.0 will allow for much easier use of the internet. Although no one can pinpoint exactly what web 3.0 will allow the users to do or the specific changes that we will see compared to web 2.0, we do know for sure that there will be a lot of changes with web 3.0. It is amazing to look at how quickly and how much the internet has evolved just in its short time being so widely used. The World Wide Web was first started just about 20 years ago and we have already seen so many changes, especially within the last couple years.

Internet has quickly become one of the fastest and easiest ways to communicate. The internet allows for communication throughout the world without the high costs of phone calls or traveling in order to see someone who is across the world. Not only can you now email or instant message someone, you can video chat through any of the numerous mediums through the internet. The internet allows for instantaneous communication but without the high costs and it is a universal system throughout the majority of the world.

Being a communication major following the positives and negatives and the constant changes of the internet is very relative and interesting. The internet, as discussed before, allows for a lot of great communication abilities. I think that the new web 3.0 is very interesting and offers the users great advantages. The people who do not keep up with the changes with technology are really doing themselves a disfavor. The advantages of not only the internet but other technology reach every part of daily life. I do not however think that we should too heavily depend on them, however, we should just use them to our advantage while still maintaining the more traditional ways of life, such as communicating face to face. There is no way to predict the exact changes that we will see with the Web 3.0 but we can only look forward to it and learn the new ever-changing ways of the internet.

Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly begins by discussing how they used to think that the new internet could be compared to TV, but they soon realized how wrong that was. The internet now is much more interactive than TV ever was or will be. The internet now allows for posting and adding of information to it constantly by users of the internet, so not only does the internet give the users information, but users can also give the internet information. TV's do not allow for the users to interact with the technology and it is just a simpler form of technology. Internet on the other hand can be manipulated by the user depending on how they need to use it. We can use the internet for things that we need it for and it is not predetermined the way the TV is with shows on at certain times. In a way the users revolve around the TV and the internet revolves around the users.

Kelly goes on to discus some dramatic statistics related to the use of internet in today's society. One of the most striking of the statistics was that there are around 100 billion clicks per day on computers and the internet. Another remarkable statistic is the amount of energy and electricity the internet uses. Around 5% of global electricity is used by the internet now. He gives numerous other statistics as well. There are around 2 million emails sent per second! When I consider how many emails I send per day it does not seem too crazy when thinking about how many millions of people use the internet at all times.

In my opinion I think that we do not realize how dependent we are on the internet as a main source and tool for communication. It allows communication to happen almost instantaneously and because society is so past paced now we really depend on fast communication. We no longer have the patience or time to use more traditional forms of communication which may take longer to use. When we think about it the forms of communication we use have continuously evolved to make the transit time shorter and shorter. Letter writing is an older and more traditional form of communication. As society got more fast paced we used telephones to communicate most often, which caused the blow up in popularity of cell phones, allowing people to be contacted no matter where they are. Now internet and emailing is available on cell phones, allowing for communication through the internet no matter where you are and also allowing for multitasking while sending emails or communicating with someone.

Kelly goes on to discuss how new technology is not instantly important but becomes important when others use it as well. It takes popularity in order for a new technology to become important because if only one person is using it then they have no one else to communicate with using it. He uses the example of a fax machine when talking about this subject. The first person to get a fax machine had nothing to do with it until someone else got one. I've never really thought about this way of thinking before because to me it seems that new breakthroughs seem to catch on so fast that there is not an in between phase. So to me, this aspect of Kelly's debate seems irrelevant and besides the point.

Another aspect that Kelly discusses is his point of view on Mcluhhan's arguments. Kelly developed his own opinion which he called Mcluhhan reversal. He thinks that instead of machines being an extension of humans that it is vice versa, humans are an extension of the machines. I think that I agree more with Kelly's point of view than the Mcluhhan argument. Humans are the ones using and developing the machines so humans are the ones taking advantage of machines and technology. I think taht Mcluhhan emphasizes that machines control humans too much, although we have become very dependent on technology and machines, we are the ones in control of them.

Web 3.0

As the internet continues to evolve and invade into our daily lives and into mainstream society we cannot escape the need to put use to it. Web 3.0 will continue to improve in many different aspects. Its prevalence in society is an obvious aspect in which we will see it improve and grow. The internet has now become completely necessary for not only social communication but also business. I also think that web 3.0 will improve in its content. Although more people can post and add content to the internet and there is a certain amount of credibility lost due to the ease of adding information, there is a huge increase of information readily available to internet users.

Also the ease of being connected to the internet is constantly improving. There are so many tools now available to us that allow anyone to connect to the internet remotely and with no difficulty. Due to the prevalence now the cost is also continuing to lower and become more affordable. The web will also learn from us, the users as well. Now the web is more interactive and it is not just a one sided process. We, as users can enter information onto the web and it can also provide us with a lot more information.

There are negative aspects of the evolving web 3.0 as well though. With the ability to post and search anything that you want on the internet now we lose our individuality and identities. It becomes harder to be an individual when everyone has the ability to post anything they feel. You are no longer unique in your opinions and thoughts. Also, because the internet is so necessary now people who cannot use and take advantage of it will be left behind and missing out of a major part of society.

The internet is now much more than just a tool for society. It is a necessary component of everyday life. Without being connected to the internet we lose out on very important information that now is being communicated to us through the internet. Print is going down in terms of popularity and more people look to the web for information. I think that in the future we will be solely reliant on the internet for most of our vital information.

I think that the Web 3.0 is going to happen whether people are happy about it or not. The prominence of the internet now is unavoidable. Protesting or disagreeing with the use of the internet will not go to any use. The internet serves so many very important functions in society and will only to continue to get more and more important. The best way to adapt to the presence of the internet is to learn and use the internet as the tool it is meant to be. I think that due to the ease of adding information to the internet and web there will need to be new regulations developed though, in order to maintain the credibility of information on the internet.

Here is an article that I found relating to the web 3.0 debate:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-30.htm

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