Web 3.0 debates

There is considerable debate as to what the term Web 3.0 means, and what a suitable definition might be.

Transforming the Web into a database
The first step towards a "Web 3.0" is the emergence of "The Data Web" as structured data records are published to the Web in reusable and remotely queryable formats, such as XML, RDF and microformats. The recent growth of SPARQL technology provides a standardized query language and API for searching across distributed RDF databases on the Web. The Data Web enables a new level of data integration and application interoperability, making data as openly accessible and linkable as Web pages. The Data Web is the first step on the path towards the full Semantic Web. In the Data Web phase, the focus is principally on making structured data available using RDF. The full Semantic Web stage will widen the scope such that both structured data and even what is traditionally thought of as unstructured or semi-structured content (such as Web pages, documents, etc.) will be widely available in RDF and OWL semantic formats.
An evolutionary path to artificial intelligence
Web 3.0 has also been used to describe an evolutionary path for the Web that leads to artificial intelligence that can reason about the Web in a quasi-human fashion. Some skeptics regard this as an unobtainable vision. However, companies such as IBM and Google are implementing new technologies that are yielding surprising information such as making predictions of hit songs from mining information on college music Web sites. There is also debate over whether the driving force behind Web 3.0 will be intelligent systems, or whether intelligence will emerge in a more organic fashion, from systems of intelligent people, such as via collaborative filtering services like del.icio.us, Flickr and Digg that extract meaning and order from the existing Web and how people interact with it.
The realisation of the Semantic Web and SOA
Related to the artificial intelligence direction, Web 3.0 could be the realization and extension of the Semantic web concept. Academic research is being conducted to develop software for reasoning, based on description logic and intelligent agents. Such applications can perform logical reasoning operations using sets of rules that express logical relationships between concepts and data on the Web.[6]
Sramana Mitra differs on the viewpoint that Semantic Web would be the essence of the next generation of the Internet and proposes a formula to encapsulate Web 3.0. '

Web 3.0 has also been linked to a possible convergence of Service-oriented architecture and the Semantic web.

Evolution towards 3D
Another possible path for Web 3.0 is towards the 3 dimensional vision championed by the Web3D Consortium. This would involve the Web transforming into a series of 3D spaces and virtual environments, taking the concept realised by Second Life further.This could open up new ways to connect and collaborate using 3D shared spaces

Proposed expanded definition
Nova Spivack has proposed expanding the definition of Web 3.0 to include the convergence of several major complementary technology trends that are reaching new levels of maturity simultaneously including:
Ubiquitous Connectivity, broadband adoption, mobile Internet access and mobile devices
Network computing, software-as-a-service business models, Web services interoperability, distributed computing, grid computing and cloud computing
Open technologies, Open APIs and protocols, open data formats, open-source software platforms and open data (e.g. Creative Commons, Open Data License)
Open identity, OpenID, open reputation, roaming portable identity and personal data
The intelligent web, Semantic web technologies such as RDF, OWL, SWRL, SPARQL, Semantic application platforms, and statement-based datastores
Distributed databases, the "World Wide Database" (enabled by Semantic Web technologies)
Intelligent applications, natural language processing, machine learning, machine reasoning, autonomous agents.

Candidate Web 3.0 technologies
Artificial intelligence
Automated reasoning
Cognitive architecture
Composite applications
Distributed computing
Knowledge representation
Ontology (computer science)
Recombinant text
Scalable vector graphics
Semantic Web
Semantic Wiki
Software agents

See also
Semantic Web
Composite applications
Internet
Service-oriented architecture
Web 2.0
Web operating system
World Wide Web

Reference : wikipedia