Speaking at the World Wide Web conference in Edinburgh, Sir Tim Berners-Lee--the British scientist who developed the Web in 1989 as an academic tool to allow scientists to share data--gave his insights on what he thinks will be the next Internet and the things that might stifle the growth of the Internet.

The Dangers

Berners-Lee warns that the universal neutral platform of the Internet is being threatened by some initiatives made by Internet providers in the US to filter data, and to give priority to those who pay additional fees.  Lee added that Internet openness will be in danger once telecom companies are given the right to enforce a tiered Internet.  Lee calls it the "dark period" once telecom companies are given this right.

Net neutrality is a big issue now in the U.S.; telecom companies want to divide the Internet into two so to speak.  The first half of the Internet is reserved for companies or institutions that can pay more, and the other half is for those who cannot.  A two-tier system would mean that people will only have full access to those portions of the Internet that they paid for and that some companies would be given priority over others (I will talk about this lengthily in my next article).

Content providers on the other hand like Microsoft, Google and Yahoo are opposing this move by the telecom providers.  They are pushing and lobbying that net neutrality should be mandatory; that everyone should be given the same equal opportunity, speed and chance to view and read whatever is posted on the Web.  Any limitations imposed will be detrimental to the growth of those who provide content on the Web.

Lee is also concerned about some content designed for mobile devices.  Again, Lee said content should be given to all, and technology and devices should be smart enough to determine what the best way to present information to consumers is.

Another concern of Berners-Lee is spamming and phishing, and other scamming procedures.  Lee said technology should be designed to help inform consumers whether they are safe or not.  Websites should inform users where they are connected to and informs them whether danger is around.  Some security initiatives are already in place like the lock icon, certificates and https, but not all users understand what these are for and how it all works.  More information should be given by technology as automatically and as clearly as possible.

The Next Web

While the new Web is called Web 2.0, Berners-Lee gave a glimpse of what Web 3.0 will be like.  Web 2.0 is an Internet that is more interactive, customized, social and media-intensive than what the Internet is like when it was first introduced. 

Berners-Lee introduced another brainchild of his called "semantic Web".  Semantic Web is more like a smarter Web wherein if someone surfs the Web and clicks on a site that announces a conference or a concert, it will immediately transfer the time and date of the conference to the user's electronic calendar. Other information like the location, latitude, longitude, altitude can be sent to the user's GPS device, and the names and biographies of others invited could be sent to an instant messenger list.  In other words, the "mark-up" language behind each Web page will be cross-referenced into countless other databases once developers agree on a common set of definitions.

An example of semantic Web application is Flickr, a photo-sharing site, and the FOAF project, which stands for "friend of a friend," that is, it’s about creating a web of machine-readable homepages describing people, the links between them and the things they create and do.  FOAF is simply a RDF (Resource Description Framework) vocabulary. You create one or more FOAF files on your Web server and share the URLs so software can use the information inside the file. Like creating your own Web pages, the creation of your FOAF data is decentralized and within your control. An example application that uses these files might be a community directory where members maintain their own records. However, as with RSS (Rich Site Summary), the really interesting parts of FOAF come into play when the data is aggregated and can then be explored and cross-linked.

Berners-Lee said. "I think maybe when you've got an overlay of scalable vector graphics--everything rippling and folding and looking misty--on Web 2.0, and access to a semantic Web integrated across a huge space of data, you'll have access to an unbelievable data resource."

Conclusion

Whether Web 3.0 will be profound remains to be seen.  All I can say is who would have thought that the Web of today could be used to transfer video, audio, pictures, documents and others; that it can be used for communication.  It was something unimaginable when the Internet was introduced, now it's prevalent.  Web 3.0, if it does happen, will bring enormous power to users and will definitely make them more efficient and productive.  On a lighter side, perhaps we can say Web 3.0 will enable users to surf smartly even if they're not that smart. 

With regard to the issue of Net neutrality, it is happening now in every part of the world, even here in the Philippines.  And it is done for two reasons:  Money and Control which translates to Power.  I will give you more of my insights about this topic soon.

To me, the nicest thing about what Sir Tim Berners-Lee said is this:  When we all thought that we have exhausted all the possibilities when it comes to Web innovation, here comes another one--Web 3.0.  This should encourage our young developers to innovate more; there are still a lot of things we can do with the Web or with technology for that matter.  Make sure you're a part of that innovation.

I’m logging off.  Stay cool and God bless us all!

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