Web 3.0 Manifesto

A few weeks ago, Mills Davis offered me an evaluation copy of his “Web 3.0 Manifesto: How Semantic Technologies in Products and Services Will Drive Breakthroughs in Capability, User Experience, Performance, and Life Cycle Value.”

I jumped at the opportunity, because Davis is one of those rare intelligences who can get his arms around complex market and technology trends, providing substantive new information and helpful perspective at the same time. A friend accused him of being “too far ahead of the curve,” but I’d love being insulted like that from time to time.

In this dense 32-page report, Davis

• Differentiates semantic (”Web 3.0?) technologies from “Web 1.0? (connecting information) and “Web 2.0? (social computing) phases.
• Describes the link between semantic technologies and generation of value.
• Provides a graphic representation of semantic technology product and service opportunities broken down into 70 discrete “elements of value.” Each opportunity is described in the text. Some random examples:visual language & semantics,semantic cloud computing, andcollective knowledge systems.
• Assesses general market readiness for semantic technologies.
• Lists over 300 “suppliers” (”research organizations, specialist firms, and major players”) in the semantic technologies space.

What does “Web 3.0? represent?

According to Davis, Web 3.0 is starting now. “It is about representing meanings, connecting knowledge, and putting these to work in ways that make our experience of internet more relevant, useful, and enjoyable.”

What do “semantic solutions” include, according to Davis? Well, pretty much everything that isn’t structured data in the traditional sense. That’s not unreasonable, if you accept — as I do — that if you are dealing withmeaningand you believe that everything is connected and meaningful, then it’s really hard to avoid semantics. And I will, once more, quote the simple but extraordinarily astute observation ofAw Kong Koy: “You can’t manage what you can’t describe.”

Continues @http://semanticadvantage.wordpress.com