The World Wide Web is an interesting paradox. It’s made with computers, but for the people. The sites we visit every day use natural language, images and page layout to present information in a way that’s easy for us to comprehend. Even though they are central to creating and maintaining the Web, the computers themselves really can’t make sense of all this information. They can’t read, see relationships or make decisions like we can.

Web 3.0 is the new generation of the World Wide Web, through which Web 2.0 technology joins hands with the Semantic Web, making it possible for humans as well as machines to access and use the information stored in the Web. With Web 3.0, machines will be able to perform tasks requiring human intelligence, reducing our time and effort on the Internet dramatically. We will be able to get results seamlessly without having to break our heads pointlessly for hours.

Web 2.0 & Web 3.0

What we have been experiencing until now, (of course in the latter part of the decade) can be termed as Web 2.0. Tim Berners Lee, the man who invented the world wide web (WWW) argues that it is more of a marketing term rather than a technical term. Be that as it may, it completely revolutionized the way we interacted with web pages. It specialized in making the net usage collaborative by allowing the people to interact with the data and contribute their views through concepts such as wiki, blogs, social networking sites, etc. Examples: Wikipedia, Blogger, Twitter, Digg, Technorati, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, Myspace, Facebook, Flickr, and many more.

But Web 3.0 will give Internet, the intelligence; by making the programs, that access data (search engine bots, etc.,) understand what the data itself is. This will make them dig up the best information from the Web for our needs and gives them the ability to contribute a lot better than they do now. Web 3.0 will help in understanding what we need rather than what we want. The webpages become more friendly and the users involve themselves in a collaborative effort in sharing information.

When we search in Google for a particular information, most of what we get on the first page are the links to websites without any information useful to us. They are sometimes relevant and other times, purely nonsense. To obtain the right information that we need, we might have to use different keywords or try many pages with carefull evaluation of what is right and what is wrong. Without using our intelligence, we cannot get the required result. Programs cannot see what people can.

Hence, most of the time, the first search results of Google are useless; they either contain technical jargon all over or advertisements, but not the specific thing that we want.

With the advent of Web 3.0, this is all going to change. Web 3.0 aims to make the Internet itself a huge database for information, accessible to machines as well as humans. When Web 3.0 becomes popular, we will have a data-driven web, enabling us to unearth the information faster than ever before. For example, queries such as “I’m hungry and I need to have Chinese food” will get you relevant results such as the map to the nearest Chinese restaurant to your place and give you the prices of all the food items available and so on. Thus the web learns what you need based on your search history and your profile, which is created on a statistical basis.

You can get the machines to contribute to your needs, by searching for, organizing, and presenting information from the Web. That means, with Web 3.0 you can be fully automated on the Internet. Apart from this, with machine intelligence, you can achieve tasks like the following very easily: automating share transactions; checking and deleting unwanted emails; creating and updating websites; and booking your movie tickets, airplane tickets, etc.

Web 3.0 is going to be the era of artificial intelligence enabled programs, sprawling the Web. It is all about the backend of the Web, about creating extreme machine interfacing. When the Web 3.0 interface becomes more popular and more user-centric, it will entirely change the way we access the Internet. We humans will no longer have to do the difficult tasks of researching on the Internet and finding the exact information. Machines will do all these tasks for us and with high precision. We only will need to view the data, modify it in the way we want, and create whatever new thing we wish to create. A technology so effective that every mind can make a living out of its creativity, instantly.

That’s ok, but what about blogging?

As you may have realized, for the web to evolve, the content must evolve too. Essentially, transforming the way we produce and publish content. Thus, the entire framework of the web as we know it, will transform into something entirely collaborative yet extremely simple.

In this article, I will share with you, some of my thoughts on how we may improve our way of producing and publishing content thus enabling the readers to interact with us better and to get ready for Web 3.0. Before that, I would like you to take a look at this wonderful presentation which gives you a brief yet simple description about web 3.0. (You may skip it if you aren’t interested on the semantics of the Web)

The following points have been abstracted after careful consideration and analysis of how the future of the web might transform our experience and interaction. These may not be accurate but everything in this world is based on a hypothesis, isn’t it? It’s not about how accurate it is, but it is about how convincing it seems. Well, enough of the jargon, let us get to business.

1) Focus on User-centric and User-interactive articles

Writing articles that are user centric and which provides a more interactive platform for users to collaborate and communicate requires a deeper understanding of a philosophy and a process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of readers are given extensive attention. It can also be characterized as a multi-stage problem solving process that not only requires us to analyze and foresee how users are likely to read and share information, but also to test the validity of their assumptions with regards to their behavior in real world tests with actual users.

Now, you may argue that I’m getting close to talking about the social networks (like Twitter and Facebook) but let me assure you, I’m not. In a nut shell, what I mean by user-centric articles is this:

• Conduct a thorough research and an in-depth analysis on how your readers react to your articles. Record relevant variations in individual behavior and then improve their “profile” based on what they are more interested in rather than just focusing on creating an entirely niche blog.
• Allow your readers to exchange ideas among you and themselves and this information also can be used as a foundation for producing better articles.
• Focus more on the history of a particular reader (based on the information collected from the above step) and create newer approaches towards content delivery by creating a “profile” for a particular set of readers and analyzing several such sets, publish content so that only those relevant to a reader will go into his feed.
• Focus more on the aspects of Visibility (users must be able to get the idea/mental picture of the article a priori), accessibility (users must be able to find relevant links to supportive article quickly), legibility (text should be easy to read, choosing the right typeface and subtlety in changes of the typeface is required. You may want to take a look at the articles published by Design informer) and language (unnecessary use of jargon must be avoided, be succinct wherever possible and do not beat around the bush. Always remember that you are writing for a huge audience with people from different race, age, geographical location, ethnicity, gender, education, culture and lingual backgrounds)
• Allowing users to rate articles depending upon whether they like it or not and thus improving their “profile” based on such case studies. This will help you in better content delivery.

Apart from following the above hypothesis, you can write better user-centric articles by asking yourself these questions:

• Who reads this article and who likes it?
• What is their opinion about it?
• How do they want me to improve?
• In what ways can I improve?

Although this is more of a literary research, I’m sure it will help you bridge the gap between you and your readers.

2) Quality is better than Quantity

There has been endless amount of debates about quality and quantity. I strongly believe that quality is anytime better than quantity. It is always wise to strive for improvement rather than perfection. If you try excelling in what you are good at, you will always achieve success. Limit your domain of articles to a particular set of categories than trying to overwhelm your readers with everything available on the net. Also make sure you don’t compromise on consistency of content delivery. A deluge of articles may lead to “huge” blog but it loses its uniqueness and credibility.

Aiming for Quality has a lot of advantages:

• You will become more interactive with your readers and you will construct a better platform for a small but focused discussion and collaboration among them.
• It leads to better time management. You may agree with me when I say that it is always easier to concentrate on and finish a task and move on to the next one as compared to trying to complete many different tasks on one go. It goes the same for blogging too. Writing niche articles not only helps you to engage your readers in a regular basis, but also helps you to excel in your writing and thinking process.

Always be a master, never a Jack of all trades.

3) Modularize, Categorize and Organize your content

With the Semantic Web, computers will scan and interpret information on Web pages using software agents. These software agents will be programs that crawl through the Web, searching for relevant information. They’ll be able to do that because the Semantic Web will have collections of information called ontologies. In terms of the Internet, ontology is a file that defines the relationships among a group of terms. For example, the term “cousin” refers to the familial relationship between two people who share one set of grandparents. In colloquial web terms, it may be referred to as ‘metadata’. Adding meta tags and categories not only modularizes your content but it also provides instant access to any information in your articles thus helping readers by providing relevant search results and faster ones too.

You must be able to see how the reader reacts to your articles and logically build an assumption for his/her “profile”. The ability to see relationships, patterns, and trends in readers helps you categorize detailed information, and it also enables you to process information more quickly; and therefore boosts your chances of arriving at effective solutions more speedily.

My conception of the ontology in the future of blogging is definitely the ability to label and tag images and information in your articles based upon the readers’ relevance and interest and thus be able to build a micro social network inside your blog. This may sound intangible but nobody knows what the future of the web holds in store for us.

4) Openness in thoughts and ideas

Aristotle once said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Listening to others’ ideas may not be easy, but it could be a valuable way to learn something new or change your perspective on life. You need to understand that no one, not even you, can have all the answers. Everyone’s truths or beliefs is just a fragment of an entire nation of thoughts. In order to deduce a satisfied response, you need to collect as much opinions as possible and integrate them logically.

Try to understand the different perspectives of your readers. Observe their standpoints of view when they leave a comment or suggest you something. Try to incorporate them into your future articles. This will help you maintain the equilibrium and share information with your readers on a similar wavelength.

• Always value your readers’ opinions and suggestions. Even if you disagree with their views, you can reflect back at what they’re saying to make them feel heard. Use a euphemistic approach such as “So you’re saying that…” and if something about their opinion or belief system really bothers you, you can respectfully phrase a question to address it, like, “I see where you’re coming from, but I don’t understand about…”
• Pick your battles carefully. Sometimes you will never understand someone else’s point of view and they won’t get yours. Taking a stand for your beliefs does not require you to argue with every person every time you talk about it.

You may argue that this has got nothing to do with the semantic web or the future of web 3.0. Well, from what I believe, the future of the web will be run and maintained by the people. Their voices will be predominant and they will create the environment with their experiences and their beliefs. It would definitely be a next step in social interaction compared to what it is today.

5) Blur the line between amateurs and professionals

The semantic web as we know it will be on a similar platform to designers, developers and users. The hard part of “knowing everything” will be removed and practically anyone can interact and contribute seamlessly with the web and beyond. There will be no clear distinction about who can manage the world. The future of the web will have everyone managing it and everyone being an entrepreneur.

Try to be more consensual in your approach towards writing articles. Always maintain a balance between the professionalism of your articles and easiness in understanding it. Use a clear yet crisp language so that not only amateurs get the idea of the article and acquire some value out of it, but it must also reflect the professionalism of your blog and your work. Otherwise, the articles might seem a bit too amateurish and you might lose a lot of good players.

• Treat your readers with respect and consideration.
• It is mostly effective to write from a third person’s perspective as it paves no way for biasing.
• Try your best to stick to the facts as much as possible. Do not fluctuate from the usual style of writing, otherwise it may irk some of your readers.
• Do an in-depth research before attempting to write an article. Take note of all the credible sources from many sites. Analyze the information and then deduce your opinions and thoughts based on that. The more research you do, the better you can reach out to your readers.
• Do not extrapolate or embellish the article with your personal opinions. Use peer reviewed sources whenever possible.
• Try offering alternative points of view for the same subject. This may seem you are bit uneasy on the subject but will help you gain more information when people condemn or condone your thoughts.

Writing articles with such things in mind helps you manage your content in an efficient manner and also to maintain a clean flow of ideas.

6) Transform Evolution into Revolution

Since the first websites in the early 1990’s, designers have been experimenting with the way websites look and feel. Early sites were entirely text-based, with minimal images and no real layout. As we have witnessed, the web industry has evolved drastically, eventually bringing us table-based designs, then Flash, and finally CSS-based designs. We are one step further with designing user-centric websites powered by open web standards such as HTML5 and CSS3. So, there is absolutely no doubt that we are evolving but what puzzles me is, Can we transform this evolution in a revolution?

These two words, Evolution and Revolution, closely resemble one another, and yet they are constantly used in their social and political sense as though their meaning were absolutely opposite. The word Evolution, synonymous with gradual and continuous development in morals and ideas, is brought forward in certain circles as though it were the antithesis of the word, Revolution, which implies changes more or less sudden in their action, and entailing some sort of catastrophe or in this case, a major breakthrough.

We have seen how the web has evolved in the latter half of the decade and we are also aware of its humungous capabilities to transform into a whole new dimension of information exchange. However, what we do not know is how these transformations might happen, or if it already has, how has it affected our interaction with the web and how do we spot it?

We are noticing a lot of redesigns of different websites these days and it is quite clear that the conventional blogging arena is becoming obsolete. We need something invigorating in its appearance and functionality. We need to help evolve the way we interact with people. This evolution must pave a way to spark a new revolution. If Web does evolve, we believe that the progress of Web evolution must obey the general law of Transformation of Quantity into Quality.

1) Read this excellent interview with the founder of Envato, Collis Ta’eed on Design Informer.

2) 9 Tips on Brand building with Web Design – WDD

7) Taking collaboration to the next level

After blogging for merely 5 months, I have become quite weary about how we interact with our readers and the fact that we are not being able to garner their ideas and opinions on the right time with the right perspectives. I think, a step ahead from the conventional blogging approach is the concept of podcasts and video podcasts, better known as ‘vlogging’. These techniques do exist but are used by a limited number of people. A few designers and developers have already adopted it and it is catching pace. The folks over at Freelance Review have complied an excellent article on how vlogging can change the way we blog in the future. The opinions stated in that article consist of many thoughts and ideas of leading designers and developers.

Another great example of designers interacting with their readers is by doing a broadcast, wherein you get a chance to talk to your readers and share your ideas. James White, from Signal Noise has been doing such broadcasts for quite some time now and I am really impressed by it. It allows me to talk to him face-to-face (well, not exactly face-to-face but at least I get to see my favourite artist and also get a chance to bamboozle him with questions). We need more such video conferencing via blogging if we want to evolve at the rate with which the web is evolving.

8 ) The future is unpredictable. Always be ready!

You never know how the future technology will eventually turn out. In the case of Web 3.0, most Internet experts agree about its general traits. They believe that Web 3.0 will provide users with richer and more relevant experiences. Many also believe that with Web 3.0, every user will have a unique Internet profile based on that user’s browsing history. Web 3.0 will use this profile to tailor the browsing experience to each individual. That means that if two different people each performed an Internet search with the same keywords using the same service, they will receive different results determined by their individual profiles.

The Web will evolve into a three-dimensional environment. Rather than a Web 3.0, we’ll see a Web 3D. Combining virtual reality elements with the persistent online worlds of massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs), the Web could become a digital landscape that incorporates the illusion of depth. You will be able to navigate the Web either from a first-person perspective or through a digital representation of yourself. Such an unrealistic representation of web experience is not far away from the future.

The Web will extend far beyond computers and cell phones. We will be able to interact with almost every gadget that can share data. Everything from watches to television sets to clothing will connect to the Internet. Users will have a constant connection to the Web, and vice versa. Each user’s software agent will learn more about its respective user by electronically observing his or her activities. This might lead to debates about the balance between individual privacy and the benefit of having a personalized Web browsing experience.

An impartial, friendly, honest, and collaborative society is a dream of mankind. Though it is pessimistic to predict the real human society turning into this way sooner or later, the World Wide Web allows people to build a virtual society that may hold these aspects. The World Wide Web also allows humans living forever (i.e. being immortal). Though our bodies are going to pass away into oblivion, our thoughts and our ideas are bulletproof and can be recorded, thus they live forever on the web. When there are no places to find our bodies, the online clones of us can still talk and think, or laugh and weep. And hopefully, they will be humble, kind, peaceful, and love to each other forever instead of continuing the pitiful life when they were real humans.

Sources and Further resources:

1) How Stuff Works – Web 3.0

2) An introduction to Web 3.0

3) Designing User Centric websites – Carsonified

4) Evolution of the web

5) An analogical study of the evolution of WWW

6) Dreaming away about a user centric Web

7) Evolution of Web Design – Six

8 ) The future of the web : Where will we be in 5 years?

9) The Solar method of building websites – Sick Designer

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