Engineering the Web's Third Decade

By Kirk L. Kroeker

As Web technologies move beyond two-way interactive capabilities to facilitate more dynamic and pervasive experiences, the Web is quickly advancing toward its third major upgrade.

Researchers working on the next generation of Web technology tend to avoid hyperbole, using language more cautious than the erstwhile bravado frequently exhibited by Internet evangelists prior to the big dot-com bust. Today, the Web is quickly advancing toward its third decade and to what many are calling its third major upgrade. It is moving beyond mere two-way interactive Web 2.0 technologies to a more dynamic, pervasive, and perhaps even more human experience. Indeed, as Web 3.0 emerges, those working at the forefront of Internet technology research tend to speak with guarded language, suggesting the next major advancements in Web technologies might be more evolutionary than revolutionary—at least for now.

(This article appeared in CACM, vol. 53, no. 3, March 2010, pp. 16-18.)

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