Third generation of the Web: libraries, librarians and Web 3.0
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-11-2014-0100 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| Pages | 6-8 |
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| Author | Waqar Ahmed |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology |
Third generation of the Web: libraries,
librarians and Web 3.0
Waqar Ahmed
Introduction
The history of World Wide Web
started with the invention of Web 1.0.
Web 1.0 was designed so that
customers and users could just see Web
pages and were not able to change or
comment on the content material of the
particular Web page. Technically, Web
1.0 Web page’s information has been
actually shut to external editing. The
next generation of the Web is Web 2.0.
The expression “Web 2.0” had been
initially described in January 1999
simply by DiNucci, the consultant on
digital information style, in her article,
“Fragmented Future” (Wikipedia
encyclopedia) (DiNucci, 1999). Web 2.0
is about the two-way communication
between World Wide Web and humans
through computers and the Internet.
Conversations about Web 3.0 are
presently infiltrating the worlds of
business and finance (Debruyne et al.,
2010;Maad and Coghlan, 2010),
education (Poore, 2013), medicine and
health (Ciccarese et al., 2011;Manica
et al., 2010;Ruttenberg et al., 2009)
and, not surprisingly, libraries (Pal,
2010;Tempelman-Kluit, 2010). Web
3.0 is basically the use of robotics and
artificial intelligence in two-way
communication, first between humans
and computers and second between
humans and humans through computers.
When Web 1.0 came into existence, Web
developers began a way for two-way
interaction. As a result, Web 2.0 was
created. The main examples of Web 2.0
are blogs, networking sites, wikis and
social networks.
Any Web 2.0 Web site may allow
users to communicate and work
together with each other. These Webs
are designed in a way that their content
is not limited to just watching, instead
users can add and comment on the
contents and can communicate with
other users. All the social networking
Web sites are considered to be Web 2.0
sites, e.g. www.facebook.com, all blogs,
video-sharing Web sites, including
www.youtube.com and mash-ups. Berners-
Lee (2006) explained Web 2.0 as open to
write and read for everyone. Web 2.0
gives each individual a space to write his
or her thoughts and upload images or
videos via their own browser:
The characteristics of Web 2.0 are rich
user experience, user participation,
dynamic content, metadata, Web standards
and scalability. Further characteristics, such
as openness, freedom and collective
intelligence by way of user participation,
can also be viewed as essential attributes of
Web 2.0 (Best, 2006).
WEB 3.0 characteristics and libraries
Markoff (2006) explained Web 3.0 as
third generation technology by the
Internet companies, which consist of
exactly what may be called the actual
SmartNet. This is a kind of vocabulary
search, data-mining, equipment
understanding, and synthetic cleverness
systems which usually highlight
machine-facilitated comprehending of
details in purchase to be able to offer a
much more effective and user-friendly
consumer experience. The maturing and
developments regarding Web 3.0
tendencies will be strengthening and
adding new technologies and
functionalities to the Web (Figure 1).
This diagram shows the
development from a filing system to
Web 3.0 The predictions for Web 4.0
are given in the graph, which is to be
started in 2020. Some of the researchers
have emphasized on cloud computing
in Web 3.0. If not all, to a great extent,
Web 3.0 features will be in the cloud.
Web 4.0 may result in laptops without
hard drives and satellite Internet
systems with built-in devices to connect
with every computer and saving the
work in the skies on the clouds as
described by Zeng et al. (2009),Baliga
et al. (2011).
Web 3.0 has many implications in
the library and information science
profession. We never had so much
information available at the same time
in history. This information is very easy
to access through the Internet. But it is
hard to get relevant and required
information out of the bulk of
information available. Web mash-ups not
only make the complete information
available but also make the Web-based
data useful. Mash-ups gather information
from different sources and provide it in a
short and convenient interface. For
example, if a tourist searches for Bus
Terminal, the Web applies the mash-up
information, and the results are generated
accompanied by Google maps and
distance measurement. The main kinds of
mash-ups are mapping mash-ups, video
mash-ups, photo mash-ups, search and
shopping mash-ups and news-mash
ups. The Semantic Web gives machines
tools to locate, exchange and interpret
information. Using the Semantic Web,
a computer starts searching from one
Web or database and moves forward to
other Webs and databases, searching
for required contents, by bestowed tools
of searching and retrieval to the
machines. Widgets are the short
applications in the form of smart icons
on the desktop of mobiles and
computers. The other name for a widget
is a gadget, that is being placed on the
computer screen. For example, weather,
clock, calendar or bookmarks are the
major types of widgets.
A Semantic database is a
knowledge-based database. At the root,
each database is a connection with
another database based on the meaning of
the query. At a high level, semantic
databases offer five main benefits: they
work with your existing relational
databases and they align with Web
LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 4 2015, pp. 6-8, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/LHTN-11-2014-01006
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