The Wild Wild Web

You Have Died of Dysentery

Subjective

Web 1.0 felt like a library at the fingertips of a curious young mind. Read-Only websites fed hungry brains with what seemed like limitless information. Playing Oregon Trail in the school computer lab went from being an entire lesson to simply a starting point. Dysentery was written about like a textbook entry, complete with pictures. The journals of Lewis and Clark were published in their entirety thanks to public domain. In fact, the public domain truly became public and accessible thanks to Web 1.0.

Eventually, the Web forums began popping up. Sports fans were able to find their niches. Some enjoyed talking strategy in a Web forum, others enjoyed the aesthetics of sports and found websites and message boards, like the ones found on Chris Creamer’sSports Logos.Net. There were also blogs like UniWatch that allowed users to comment and submit photos to their operators. Particularly interesting was the forums behind Harry Potter, which allowed a massive and rabid fan base to connect across the globe and discuss their mutual interests.

These forums were incredibly clunky compared to the modern Web. It took time to type a post and a mouse click to submit- the “enter” key didn’t work as an alternative. This meant the posts were built in with time to think and pushed out knee jerk responses that are so familiar today. Today, Reddit and its comments have stayed true to its roots and most resembles what an original Web forum once was, albeit accessibility and user-friendliness has improved, for better or worse.

With the forums aiding the transition, the evolution into Web 2.0 seemed entirely natural. Interaction with others became more streamlined and refined. For example, with Twitter, each interest of the young mind is able to connect with users of a similar interest, as with any other social media on Web 2.0. The hype hit the users without much repercussion. Users were excited and ready to take in the interaction that everything prior felt like it was leading up to.

Businesses were hit hard with the hype, and to some, Web 2.0 surpassed their expectations. Some businesses changed everything from marketing to customer service in order to succeed. There are businesses that have resisted evolution, notably newspapers. These businesses are now dying a slow and painful death thanks to their resistance.

Web 3.0 is a more intelligent version of what came before. When searching for dysentery, or talking about getting dysentery, the context will come into play. No longer will be the days of searching about dysentery pages explaining its effect inthe game of Oregon Trail. No longer will someone with actual dysentery interrupt a conversation about dying of dysentery in a game. The Web will know the meanings.

Sharing is Caring, or Just What the Future Holds

Journalistic

The Web has evolved at a rapid pace, being categorically defined as Web 1.0, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0. The Internet is a system created by the United States government. The World Wide Web is how that Internet is used.

The inception of the web as it is known began with Web 1.0. Web 1.0 is comprised of read-only web pages.Information was available in the form of text and pictures. Hyperlinks were available to different pages.

Web 1.0 began evolving with search engines like Google and Yahoo, when the capacity to search was implemented. The limits of a single web address and its hyperlinks no longer existed.

The evolution to Web 2.0 came when the focus shifted from content to users. Web 2.0 was defined as participatory, amateur and user friendly.

RSS feeds became popular ways for users to get news specifically tailored to them. Users could participate in web forums. The Web became open for everyone and anyone to have a conversation about anything. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter became prevalent and reinvented conversations. Wikis where anyone can add information became popular. One can now spend hours reading endless information on Wikipedia, which, while limited by the constraints of being a wiki, has established itself as a phenomenal entry-level learning tool.

Web 3.0 is the next step in the World Wide Web’s evolution. It is an intelligent Web. Through open source techniques and free data, services will be intelligent. They will understand context and meaning. Web 3.0 has also been called the semantic web. Because it is still in development, the definition varies, but it is commonly noted as being able to share data and reuse it across applications and sites.

What this means, in the simplest of terms, is that when a user is looking for information about something such as NCIS, the web itself will know if the user desires the TVshow, or the actual Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Everything will be tailored to the tendencies of the user. 

The evolution of the web is all about what’s next for the user. The Web is basically the Wild Wild West. It is new. It is whatever the user wants it to be.