Theorising Web 3.0: ICTs in a changing society
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the broad phases of web development: the read-only Web 1.0, the read-write Web 2.0, and the collaborative and Internet of Things Web 3.0, are examined for the theoretical lenses through which they have been understood and critiqued.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual piece, in the tradition of drawing on theorising from outside the Information Systems field, to shed light on developments in information communication technologies (ICTs).
Findings
Along with a summary of approaches to Webs 1.0 and 2.0, the authors contend that a more complex and poststructuralist theoretical approach to the notion of, and the phenomenon of Web 3.0, offers a more interesting and appropriate theoretical grounding for understanding its particularities.
Originality/value
The discussion presages five further papers engaged with ICTs in a changing society, each of which similarly addresses novel theoretical understandings.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all the authors who enabled this Special Issue for their contribution, and hope that readers will take with them a better understanding of the current stage of IS, ICT and Web development and what it means to the people using them. This Special Issue was linked to the 11th IFIP TC9 Human Choice and Computers conference in Turku, Finland, of which Kai Kimppa was Chair, and four of the papers were developed from conference papers presented in July 2014 in Turku; the paper by Aricat was a response to the wider Call for Papers for this issue.
Citation
Kreps, D. and Kimppa, K. (2015), "Theorising Web 3.0: ICTs in a changing society", Information Technology & People, Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 726-741. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-09-2015-0223
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited