Theorising Web 3.0: ICTs in a Changing Society

: Kreps David G., Kimppa Kai K.

Publisher: Emerald

: 2015

: Information Technology and People

: 1

: 28

: 4

: 726

: 741

: 16

: 0959-3845

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-09-2015-0223

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.