I want to talk about Webs 1, 2 and 3.0 as well as IoT
Do any of you remember Web 1.0?
Now I think of it as flat, or static.
It was certainly slow and required your computer to dial-up through your landline to connect
to whichever company or school was offering you network access.
E-mail was the best part of it.
Also millions of websites were created, but you had to know the coding language HTML to
be a part of that.
Every company created their own media player or software and the only way you could use
it was by downloading it and/or buying it.
Then, Web 2.0 arrived.
It made the Internet collaborative and social.
Anyone could have their opinions on the Internet via comments on articles or by getting their
own blogs.
Knowing programming language was not required.
There was also an emphasis on free or inexpensive programs, many of which did not require downloading.
Web 3.0 required a change in the “language” used to code web pages; although, the average
user still did not need to know any of those specifics.
Essentially it was a grammar change.
Instead of only having nouns and objects in the programming language, some smart people
(Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, and some of his friends) decided
that verbs and adjectives were necessary.
I’m speaking in metaphor, of course.
But there needed to be some way to let the Web know when you were talking about iced
tea, the drink, or Ice-T, the rapper and actor, especially since most people will search for
ice tea i-c-e- t-e-a…
so incorrectly spelling both words.
This problem was solved and resulted in the Semantic Web.
But to most of us, it is just known as Web 3.0.
An example of Web 3.0 is that I purchased airplane tickets the other day and had the
itinerary sent to my gmail account.
Then on the day I was supposed to fly out, Google sent me updates on my phone telling
me whether the flight was on time still and what time I should leave for the airport.
Can you see how many connections were made there automatically?
Without me having to do the work?
Another example are the knowledge boxes that pop up when you do searches now.
Or when you just bought coffee on Amazon and now see an ad for similar coffee on Facebook.
Or how now days when you search for a “steak house” you don’t need to put your city
because your computer, tablet or cell phone usually knows where you are and they return
nearby results.
As amazing as Web 3.0 is, the Internet of Things, or IoT, begins to take us into the
science fiction world of the future.
The Internet of Things pertains to connected devices or smart devices.
According to Wikipedia, the first one was a Coke machine in 1982 that was able to report
inventory and temperature of cans.
Now days we have cars that seem to want to drive the car without you, lane assist, parking
assist and on and on.
There are apps to find where you parked your car or where your keys are and in large stores
like Lowes, the app will tell you the row number of where the item is you want.
Your refrigerator is connected not just as a place for information, it can show you a
picture of what is inside while you are at the store.
The most noticeable change to the average user was from Web 1.0 to 2.0.
But fortunately, everything since has been absorbed by us normal users as the Internet
without needing to know the background per se.
In review, we can think of Web 1.0 as static because change required specialty.
Web 2.0 is all about collaboration and freedom.
Web 3.0 is about personalization and connectedness.
And, the Internet of Things is about using technology to improve our convenience.