Web 3.0 is one of the terms used to describe the evolutionary stage of the Web that follows Web 2.0. Given that technical and social possibilities identified in this latter term are yet to be fully realised the nature of defining Web 3.0 is highly speculative. In general it refers to aspects of the internet which, though potentially possible, are not technically or practically feasible at this time.
Following the introduction of the phrase "Web 2.0" as a description of the recent evolution of the Web, the term "Web 3.0" has been introduced to hypothesize about a future wave of Internet innovation. Views on the next stage of the World Wide Web's evolution vary greatly, from the concept of emerging technologies such as the Semantic Web transforming the way the Web is used (and leading to new possibilities in artificial intelligence) to the observation that increases in Internet connection speeds, modular web applications, and advances in computer graphics will play the key role in the evolution of the World Wide Web.
Proposed expanded definition
Web 3.0, a phrase coined by John Markoff of the New York Times in 2006, refers to a supposed third generation of Internet-based services that collectively comprise what might be called 'the intelligent Web'—such as those using semantic web, microformats, natural language search, data-mining, machine learning, recommendation agents, and artificial intelligence technologies—which emphasize machine-facilitated understanding of information in order to provide a more productive and intuitive user experience.
Nova Spivack defines Web 3.0 as the third decade of the Web (2010–2020) during which he suggests several major complementary technology trends will reach new levels of maturity simultaneously including:
transformation of the Web from a network of separately siloed applications and content repositories to a more seamless and interoperable whole.
ubiquitous connectivity, broadband adoption, mobile Internet access and mobile devices;
network computing, software-as-a-service business models, Web services interoperability, distributed computing, grid computing and cloud computing;
open technologies, open APIs and protocols, open data formats, open-source software platforms and open data (e.g. Creative Commons, Open Data License);
open identity, OpenID, open reputation, roaming portable identity and personal data;
the intelligent web, Semantic Web technologies such as RDF, OWL, SWRL, SPARQL, GRDDL, semantic application platforms, and statement-based datastores;
distributed databases, the "World Wide Database" (enabled by Semantic Web technologies); and
intelligent applications, natural language processing., machine learning, machine reasoning, autonomous agents.
