A comprehensive intro to Web 3.0 technology
We have been with Web technology for nearly half-century now, and recently we are transferring ourselves into the third phase of its evolution, ‘Web 3.0.’ Thus, it is worthy to trace back how this valuable technology became what it is today and get to know through this intro to Web 3.0 technology.
Acquainting yourself with Web technology
Before jumping into an intro to Web 3.0, let’s brush up on the old knowledge about Web technology.
Right now, you are using a technology called “Web” (or initially named “the Mesh”) to read this blog post. Web technology, also known as the World Wide Web, is an application that was created in 1989 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. He utilized the connection of the internet, which already existed then, to link documents or web pages together so that people could share information.
The inspiration for this came from his time as a software engineer at CERN, where scientists from all over the world gathered. He noticed that they were having difficulty sharing information, and he knew how to solve this problem by utilizing hypertext technology.
“In those days, there was different information on different computers, but you had to log on to different computers to get at it. Also, sometimes you had to learn a different program on each computer. Often it was just easier to go and ask people when they were having coffee…” – Sir Tim Bernes-Lee
After Tim launched the first web page for the public at the end of 1990, he realized its universal potential. Because of this, he and his team have agreed to make the code they’ve created freely available forever. This decision set off a wave of creativity and collaboration that had never happened before, and it’s still going on like this to this day.
Because of this breakthrough, we now have access to the world of the internet. It is the world where we can communicate with one another, create content, look up and share information, or provide a service without having to ask a central authority for permission. We can say that it revolutionized our world like nothing before, and without a doubt, no one can live without it now.
Intro to Web 3.0 technology
The Web has been gradually evolving, and now it is going to cause another big change to the world we are living in with its third generation, “Web 3.0.” Then what is Web 3.0 technology?
Web 3.0 is the third generation in the evolution journey of web technology. This latest version of Web technology greatly benefits decentralized applications. Also, it encourages the widespread adoption of blockchain-based technology. In addition, it helps empower machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to be smarter and more adaptable.
How? Let’s get a clearer picture by tracing back through the change of this technology since its early version ‘Web 1.0.’
History of the Web technology
The emergence of “the Web” in the last 30 years has caused a huge impact on the technology world. As we enter the Web 3.0 age, it has progressed significantly thus far.
Web 1.0 [1989-2005]
Looking back on the early days of the Web, Sir Tim said, “The Web is a reflection of humanity.” What we can imply from his quote is that people have both positive and negative qualities in their make-up.
The first era of the World Wide Web emerged in the 1990s. It was the “static information provider,” where people could only read and download content. Users could not interact with the websites yet. Accordingly, the user demographic was mostly a content consumer rather than a content creator.
Looking into the technologies involved in making up Web 1.0, there are:
- HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
- HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
- URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
Web 2.0 [2005 – present]
Coming to the “Web 2.0” age, or social web, as soon as users could interact with each other on a website, there was increased user cooperation, which led to many innovations developed since then.
Furthermore, it could already connect to the database, allowing users to store or upload data to the internet. Thanks to the computer code that makes it possible for you to interact with the websites or applications instead of just looking at them.
As a result, society on the internet emerged as what we call “social media.” People from different locations can interact with each other, communicate, shop, create, and share content across platforms or even across applications. That’s the world we’re in right now.
The three innovation layers of the Web 2 are as follows:
- Social media platforms
- Cloud Computing
- Mobile use
Web 3.0 [gradually transferring into this age]
A growing number of people who want more control over their data and the content they see are driving the emergence of Web 3.0. This era of the Internet can also be referred to as the “read/write/own” phase of the Internet.
Based on the capabilities of previous generations and the integration of emerging technologies today, we can anticipate a new shift in how we develop websites and how people interact with them.
The internet of the future, Web 3.0, still uses HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) as its foundational layer, but there will be some changes to the way it links to data sources and stores data.
Compared to Web 2.0, Web 3.0 most likely focuses on the use of machine learning and AI in order to turn the onsite content into semantic web and AI web. Consequently, AI will sift through the content and deliver it to specific users for whom it has thoroughly determined that they have a high degree of relevance to this set of information.
The idea behind the semantic web is to organize and store data in a way that helps a computer learn what each piece of data means. In other words, a website should be able to understand the words used in search queries the same way a person would in order to make and share better content. To achieve this, AI technology would help. The semantic web system will instruct the computer on the meaning of the data and then AI will take it to utilize.
Web 3.0’s use of cryptocurrency and decentralized blockchain technology is another major improvement. The concept is that there will be no arbitrary central authority but instead a distributed consensus. Accordingly, it enables an increasing variety of new applications and services, including: NFT, DeFi, cryptocurrency, DApps, DAOs, and cross-chain bridges.
How will it change the way we use the internet?
An emphasis on data-driven and Semantic Web technologies will be a key part of Web 3.0’s services. In addition to allowing users to own and control their own data, it also allows them to be reimbursed for their time spent online with a better tailored real-world experience by making the most of its combination of machine learning, AI, and blockchain technology.
As a result, the following changes are reasonable to expect:
Data ownership
Most of the time, we inevitably provide our information to the application owners in exchange for the services we ask for, in the hope that they will use our data responsibly. But then the service provider utilizes it for their profit. During the internet session, the provider will keep track of everything you do while connected to the internet. But with Web 3.0, we can put the power back into the hands of users and creators by leveraging decentralized blockchain technology.
Applications built with Web 3.0 technology will be blockchain-based. It implies that all data will be stored on each blockchain’s public ledger, which is accessible to everyone. Users will be free to choose whether to interact publicly or privately without interference from the intermediary party, and they can also customize to sell their data instead of providing it for free to companies.
Exposure to Metaverse
Both Web 3.0 and the Metaverse are still under construction. In any case, the technologies behind them can work together in some very important ways. The technology used to create web3 – which includes blockchain and blockchain-based cryptocurrencies – has far-reaching implications for how we will interact with the metaverse’s virtual worlds for work, play, socializing, and learning.
With the help of decentralized solutions, the creator economy in the Metaverse can make a great addition to the Web 3.0 vision by creating a whole new financial world. The most obvious example is the use of cryptocurrency to lay the groundwork for metaverse economic and monetary systems.
Considering the Metaverse as an additional realm where people live, work, eat, shop, and play, money is also necessary for it to exist. This is where non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, come into play in this virtual world. NFTs are another important part of the Web 3 vision. They make it possible for digital worlds to have unique things.
Token-powered ecosystem
The use of cryptocurrencies is assisting the development of Web 3.0. In this new internet world, both non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and fungible tokens give users ownership rights over a part of the internet. A decentralized infrastructure facilitates this by removing the requirement for a centralized authority to manage transactions and permits.
So, it’s an encouraging economy for content creators because they can get paid for the digital data and value they bring to the online community or the data they own. Then, we can assume that in the near future, there will be more content creators in our online ecosystem, and cryptocurrency will lead to new changes such as less censored content and more inclusive payment services.
Conclusion
Web 3.0 is a decentralized version of Web technology. Anyway, there is no clear definition of Web 3.0 because it has not yet been fully implemented, and it is based more on an idea than on verifiable facts. But if you want to stay ahead of the game, it’s time to learn more about this technology and the ways in which it can revolutionize many different industries.
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