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This past week there has been a lot of buzz in the blogosphere about the changing web. Terms like Web 3.0, and even Web 4.0 have started to popping up again.  For those of us in education, we are just now enjoying Web 2.0 and beginning to implement some of the technologies from that.  Can we already look ahead to the next development?

Probably the best and most concise article I read was one written by Dan Farber on ZDNet blogs called “From semantic Web (3.0) to WebOS (4.0).”  In this article he includes an evolutionary diagram for the Web that I find very intriguing.  According to his article and the diagram, we are already on the far side of Web 2.0 with technologies like mashups, office 2.0 and social networking.

Web 3.0

What will the web be like in 5 or 10 years? Looking at how the internet
has already evolved and changed in just the past 5 years is very exciting for a techie like me.  According to this article, the next evolution is the ‘Semantic Web.’  For those who haven’t heard of this (like me) here is a short definition from Wikipedia:

“The Semantic Web is an evolution of the World Wide Web in which information is machine processable (rather than being only human oriented), thus permitting browsers or other software agents to find, share and combine information more easily.”

This sounds both amazing and scary.  Technology is finally getting to the point where we can take that final step into that fantasy realm where computers gain artificial intelligence.  One can’t help but to think of “I, Robot.”

How close are we?

The way I see it, one of the major goals in using technology in education is to manage the information we are processing day in and day out.

The web is already an amazing tool for combing the mountains and mountains of information out there, but we still have to learn how to search.  We use amazing tools like RSS readers, and widgitized webpages to pull information from all over the world.  But we are still left with a smaller mountain to sift through to find the most important and relevant information for us.

With the advent of the semantic web the information we are looking for will be increasingly more relevant and useful to us. 

Web 4.0

What I find most intriguing about the article is their vision Web 4.0 as a WebOS (operating system).  We are already moving that direction with Office 2.0 and so much of what we are doing already being online.  Think back to the last time your network went down and you didn’t know what to do… :-) 

Read/Write Web posted an article about some evolutions coming with the Firefox 3.0.  The biggest development is support for offline applications through the web-browser.  This means that all that previously unavailable offline content will no longer be an issue. 

Predicting the Future?

Predicting what the web will be like in 10-15 years is very difficult.  There are very few people that saw what the web would be like today 15 years ago.  :-)  Has it changed the way we teach, learn and live… ABSOLUTELY. 

Will everything change in the future as well?  I think so… maybe not in the ways described in the article, but it will certainly change somehow.  What about you?  How could a semantic web, or a web operating system change your teaching and more importantly, your learning?   Do you see Web 3.0, 4.0 as something similar or different?