#4 Evolution of the Web

The web, or the world wide web (WWW), is a growing universe of interlinked web pages and systems where public documents and other resources can be accessed via the internet, connected with client devices such as computers and mobile phones that allow access to its content. Yet, a broader definition from the World Wide Web Consortium explains it as, "the World Wide Web is the universe of network-accessible information, an embodiment of human knowledge", (World Wide Web Consortium, 2013).

In 1989 the world wide web was developed by researcher Tim Berners-Lee in an attempt to create a space for scientists to easily share data from experiments. He helped build the prototypes of the original core web technologies that revolutionised the way people used the internet, including HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP); the method of instant cross-referencing that transfers web pages to your computer and links to other sites. He connected these methods with Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), and technologies of Uniform Resource Locator (URL), (BBC, 2017).

Refer to the following link for an interactive visual representation of the evolution of the web:

The web has been publicly accessible since 1991, but since then has seen a major technological and infrastructural evolution, through the developments of the Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0.

Web 1.0 was the first phase, simply coined as the internet. In Web 1.0 there was only limited interaction between sites and web users, where it acted as a read-only information portal where users passively received information without being given the opportunity to post reviews, comments, and feedback, (WittyCookie, 2012).

Web 2.0, referred to as the "writable" or "participating" phase of the web, began with the facilitation of interactive data. The information available through Web 2.0 empowered the new generation to develop new concepts like Wiki, Widgets and video streaming, and encourages users participation, collaboration, and publishing of their own content, which was not possible in the Web 1.0. Web 2.0 was responsible for the development of various sites that we commonly use today like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, (FlatWorld Business, 2014).

Web 3.0, or referred to as the Semantic web (meaning data driven), is the “executable” phrase of Word Wide Web with dynamic applications, interactive services, and “machine-to-machine” interaction. The data will come from the user and the web will essentially adjust to meet the needs of the user. It consists of natural language search, recommendation agents with personalised search engines and artificial intelligences, (FirstWebDesigner, 2015).

Below is an overview of the three web phases:

(Image source: FlatWorld Business, 2014).

(Image source: Zhansaya Mustafa, 2016).

Reference List:

BBC Guides. (2017). What is the world wide web?. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z2nbgk7 [Accessed 7 Aug. 2017].

Flat World Business. (2014). The INevitable – Impact of technology. [online] Available at: https://flatworldbusiness.wordpress.com [Accessed 7 Aug. 2017].

WittyCookie. (2012). What are the major differences among Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0?. [online] Available at: https://wittycookie.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/what-are-the-major-differences-among-web-1-0-2-0-and-3-0/ [Accessed 7 Aug. 2017].

World Wide Web Consortium. (2013). What is W3C. [online] Available at: http://searchmicroservices.techtarget.com/definition/W3C-World-Wide-Web-Consortium [Accessed 7 Aug. 2017].