Web 4.0

Web 4.0 (also referred to as the web of things or internet of things) is yet another marketing term used to describe a paradigm shift on the web. This paradigm shift is from a focus on the back-end of a computer system to the front-end, and will be heavily dependent on the success of HCI projects.

It is deeply rooted in the AI movement and of course depends on the previous versions of the web to be created for it to manifest in the currently envisioned form, namely the Semantic Web. The global upgrade from IPv4 (which limits the total number of IP addresses to billion) to IPv6 (which has a much larger limit near 3.4×10^38, a massive number that could assign an IP address to every square inch of planet Earth) is also of instrumental importance to the establishment of a web of things.

Like all technologies, some potential applications are extremely promising, while others are distressing or dystopian at best (if placed in the wrong hands).

Enabling Technologies

1. Internet of Things (all types of devices, products, things tagged via RFID/NFC and trackable in real-time, hopefully not people ourselves though!)
2. Predictive Search (intent-driven content when and where you need it)
3. Dashboard (connected-device browser/controller & information aggregating/summarizing tool for KPIs & metrics)
4. TTS & STT (100% accuracy orally created/edited/curated content)
5. Artificial Intelligence & Business Intelligence (actionable automated interaction, task completion, automatically-extracted/monitored data points & reporting)
6. Ubiquitous Wireless Sensor Networks (real-time wildlife tracking, environment & weather monitoring, LBS Beacons, etc, all inter-connected)
7. Autonomous Drones (delivery & task-completion network of robots)
8. Robotic control fields (mesh network of remote control signals and receivers)
9. Smart Car (LBS pick-me-up here/now, voice controlled & self-driving transportation options)
10. Smart Grid ("follow-the-sun" Renewable Energy generation, peak .vs. off-peak pricing usage rates, etc)
11. Smart Home (aka. "Wired" Home and/or "Wireless" Appliance networks; Smart Fridge, Networked Toilet w/ stool analysis, HUE Adaptable Lights, NEST Learning Thermometer, Air & Water Quality sensors, etc)
12. Gesture Recognition (Mind-controlled HCI via brainwave, hand and/or eye gestures for control of automation flows, information & integration)
13. Smart Health (Wearables-tracked Fitness data & Vital Statistics pushed to EHR/EMR, connected directly to your Health Center / Family Doctor)
14. Inter-galactic Virtual Reality (space travel, planet seeding expeditions & simulations, Star Wars beam weapons systems, etc)
15. Participatory Design & P2P 3D Printing (Large-scale Collaborative Brainstorming, Drafting, Testing & Co-Creation/Manufacture)

Resources

• Distributed Web (DWEB) hacktivists’ camp: https://dwebcamp.org (features Tim Berners-Lee, Vincent Cerf, etc)

External Links

• wikipedia: Web of Things
• Web 4.0 - When Machines Take Over: http://bigthink.com/ideas/26727
• From the Semantic Web (3.0) to the WebOS (4.0), summary of interview with Nova Spivack: http://www.zdnet.com/article/from-semantic-web-3-0-to-the-webos-4-0/
• Digital Emancipation - World Wide Web Founder Is Back With A New Scheme: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/325879/digital-emancipation-world-wide-web-founder-is-ba.html (Personal Online Datastore, PDO to give everyone the “keys to their own kingdom” when it comes to personal data

access & sharing)

See Also

Web | Web 2.0 | Web 3.0 | Web 4.0 | 3D | VR | AR | LOD