Let's Talk About Web 3.0

PCMag has posted an excellent article about the future of the web, or web 3.0. While this is certainly a lot of speculation, it is interesting to see what theories the movers and shakers think web 3.0 might be like:

"The article begins with an imaginary girl named Lucy, whose mother has just been told by her doctor that she needs to see a specialist. "At the doctor's office, Lucy instructed her Semantic Web agent through her handheld Web browser," we read. "The agent promptly retrieved information about Mom's prescribed treatment from the doctor's agent, looked up several lists of providers, and checked for the ones in-plan for Mom's insurance within a 20-mile radius of her home and with a rating of excellent on trusted rating services." That's quite a mouthful, but it only begins to describe Berners-Lee's vision of a future Web. Lucy's Semantic Web agent can also check potential appointment times against her mother's busy schedule, reschedule other appointments if need be, and more - all on its own, without help from Lucy. And Lucy is just one example. A Semantic Web agent could be programmed to do almost anything, from automatically booking your next vacation to researching a term paper."

If this seems a bit far fetched to you, then think of how far search engines have come in the past decade. Modern search engines such as Google already decide when it's appropriate to add pictures, maps, directions, telephone numbers, auctions, news, even content-specific advertising to your searches.