According to Jason

Web 3.0 is defined as the creation of high-quality content and services produced by gifted individuals using Web 2.0 technology as an enabling platform.

I remember saying something very similar quite some time ago, but I’ve since changed my mind. There must be more to it than that. Before getting straight into Web 3.0, I’ll start by providing my brief definition of Web 2.0.

From a technology perspective

Web 2.0 can be described as technology which enables end users to create content on the Web more quickly, easily and cheaply. Examples of such technology include blogs, wikis and platforms such as flickr.

From a marketing perspective

Enabled by technology, Web 2.0 can be described as consumer behaviour influenced by consumers. We no longer live in an era where brand owners are in total control of their own marketing. Consumers now find it quicker, easier and cheaper to communicate their opinion about products and services, which in turn, influences other consumers.

What is Web 3.0?

One thing is for sure, it has got to be something more than the ability to do all of the above, better. Let’s call that Web 2.5 service pack x. Gifted individuals who deliver higher quality content is incremental and continuous in my opinion. So I don’t think we should draw a line in the sand to define a specific milestone for people’s ability to do something better.

Jeremiah Owyang thinks that Jason is right just because Google appear to have a similar opinion. He says

By chance Jason’s definition completely matches what Google (his competitor now) just launched. Because this is a Google product, could we expect search results to favor Google products that are correctly optimized to be found over Mahalo or Wikipedia?

Jeremiah’s first commentator responded by saying

To give something a label like web 3.0 there has to be some major innovation behind it. Minus Googles credibility this product is not bringing anything new. This is more like baby steps in that direction.

I agree.

According to Udi Manber on Google’s official blog to which Jeremiah refers

The web contains an enormous amount of information, and Google has helped to make that information more easily accessible by providing pretty good search facilities.

What a load of crap. Google doesn’t ‘make information any more accessible’ than Excite did during the 90’s. It certainly doesn’t provide ‘pretty good search results’.

The only thing that Google has done for search is turn it into a mass of untrustworthiness. What they do well is mix organic search results with those that have been paid for. What’s worse, is that Google gives precedence to the highest bigger.

Don’t get me started on Web sites that are created specifically to market products they don’t sell, but instead, redirect you to Web sites that do sell them.

Google could just as easily provide more information about Web sites to allow users make better-informed decisions based on the suitability of content on each Web site. The only information it provides (admittedly the only information that any search engine provides today) is the title and description. How do you know which ones to trust? The answer is, you don’t!

My definition of Web 3.0

There is a philosophy enabled by a technology that’s not yet understood or utilized properly and I think the realization of that, should be referred to as Web 3.0. That philosophy is called the Semantic Web. The technology can be described as ‘interoperable metadata that lies beneath each Web page’ (for the techies it’s called Resource Description Framework). It’s not all about RDF, but it is pretty central to the conversation.

By reading additional metadata about Web sites, Google could provide end users with more information from the search results. Wouldn’t it be useful to know which Web sites are appropriate for minors, accessible to disabled users or mobile friendly? Wouldn’t you also like to know at times, which Web sites adopt advertising and marketing best practices, adopt privacy best practices, or have been independently verified by a medical authority?

This is all possible with the aid of metadata. That’s what I call better content discover based on trusted search results. The problem is, search engines such as Google choose not to read it.

That’s what I call Web 3.0

[Update: 00:50] I forgot to mention that Jason and I have discussed a possible collaboration. I believe there’s a place for Mahalo. I also think there’s a need to improve all major search engines (including Mahalo) based on open standards.

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I was first prompted to write this post when one of Segala’s Certified Partners directed me to their ‘blog’. I can’t remember why, I think it was regarding the design and it was asking us to review it for accessibility standards compliance.

I was bemused when I was unable to converse with the author by leaving a comment. It wasn’t the first time I witnessed this, but it was the first time it (almost) frustrated me. All I could think of was ‘why?’ Why not just call it a Personal Web site?!

A few weeks later a Microsoft colleague directed me to the same agency’s white paper on Web 2.0 as he found it very interesting. So, here’s an agency that clearly understands Web 2.0 but yet, wasn’t sure whether to enable comments on its ‘blog’ or not. I was delighted to see comments later enabled as a direct result of my personal feedback on the subject though.

Personal Web sites have been around for a very long time. Running commentary on subjects such as movies and sport isn’t a good enough reason to call your Web site a blog.

As Wikipedia states

A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

Blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting) or sexual topics (Adult blog), and are part of a wider network of social media.

The bit that interests me most is, “The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.”

Calling a Web site which allows two-way conversations a blog, is a way of benchmarking time, technology and/or techniques. The very same can be said for Web 2.0. Although, Web 2.0 principles have been around longer than the term itself, Web 2.0 enables us to talk about the same stuff, well, sort of. Most of the confusion in my opinion, appears to be around whether people are talking about technology or marketing.

One could argue that if your comment is worthy enough, it should in fact warrant its own post on your own blog, thereby mitigating the need for comments in the first place. However, this is a cop out and doesn’t counter my argument to use the term ‘blog’ when referring to Web sites that enable comments from readers.

Sethi Godin, Dave Winer and Russell Beattie are just 3 people who call their Personal Web sites blogs. Perhaps people like Winer can get away with it as people are very likely to write posts on their own blogs and then link back to his original article.

Perhaps a few people should be given a ‘get out of jail free’ card? Can they get away with being an exception to the rule?

For me, ‘blog’s without comments is just evil 99.9% of the time. There must be a very good reason not to have comments on a full time basis.

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I’m thinking of hosting curry 2.0 in Dublin towards the end of September and would like to solicit your feedback. Are there any preferred dates for those who’d like to attend? I’ve worked out that 30 is the perfect number for this type of gathering.

Both Microsoft and Inter Trade Ireland would like to sponsor/support the next dinner so please feel free to suggest a theme that will get people together and appeal to one of these organisations. Thanks.

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by Maxim Kelly in the Sunday Tribune, 15 July 2007

Take two dozen cash-starved Irish technology entrepreneurs. Place in a large Indian restaurant. Sprinkle in a smattering of venture capitalists and Enterprise Ireland executives. Add wine liberally. Stir vigorously for two hours. Result: Curry 2.0.

The brainchild of Segala chief executive Paul Walsh, what began as a private social event for London-based Walsh to catch up with some Irish friends and tech sector colleagues over dinner at his Jaipur restaurant in Dublin two weeks ago became a nerdy networking event. Budding internet entrepreneurs arrived to pitch their Web 2.0 business ideas to the eatery’s head chef while sampling his tangy cuisine and lashings of South African Stormhoek wine provided by online vintner Bubble Brothers. (Paul, See clarification below.)

The rationale was that if spice specialist Sanjay, whose first language is Punjabi, could understand the obscure industry jargon and have his curiosity piqued by one novel tech idea, that pitch would be declared the winner and the group would stump up cash to send the lucky pitcher to London’s OpenCoffee and InternetPeople events, where investors mingle with techies. The Microsoft contingent gamely threw in a copy of Vista and a presentation pointer too.

James Kennedy of SmartNote won the competition with his idea for software that automatically directs mobile phone text message mail shots to a business’s customers. Using the canny example of a restaurant booking database distributing text reminders to customers no doubt attracted Sanjay’s attention. Quamir Hussain of QHC Consulting was runner up, aided by his (unfair?) advantage of explaining his m-payment retail coupon idea in passable Punjabi.

Eagle-eyed observers noted that Mike (sic) Caulfield of Trinity Venture Capital was quick to dip into his pockets to pay a EUR 25 contribution to send Kennedy over the water.

An online wedding planner application from Spoiltchild was an interesting niche product, while Joe Drumgoole’s PutPlace concept for a single online depository for storing one’s digital data, such as photos and music, received murmurs of appreciation amongst the gadget-wielding audience.

Meanwhile, the eponymous Eoghan of EoghanMcCabe.com, who described Curry 2.0 as “like a coming out party for tech ideas except less gay”, described his intriguing Fold Spy web trickery, which tells web designers where to place ads on pages to attract the most attention.

A host of other original ideas were presented too, but the Sunday Tribune is keeping them under its tinfoil hat for the moment.

Walsh said he would definitely be putting the Curry 2.0 event on a regular footing in future, as InterTrade Ireland and Microsoft have expressed interest in getting involved.

“The benefit for me is raising my profile but I want to put back in too,” he said.

Walsh is a member of several associations in Britain designed to promote start-ups across the tech sector.

“I want to ensure the UK becomes a centre of excellence for interactive digital media but the irony is that I’m a Paddy so I want to do the same thing for Ireland too.”

[Clarification] It was Stormhoek who sponsored the wine. Bubble Brothers do not yet sell it in Ireland. It was shipped to Jaipur especially for the occasion. As Chair of BIMA it is my responsibility to help steer the association to help ensure the UK remains the center of excellence for creativity within the Interactive sector.

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I wrote a post yesterday about the Curry 2.0 event which I hosted in Dublin recently, where we had startups pitch their business proposition to a chef. If you can pitch to an Indian chef whose first language isn’t English, you should be able to pitch to anyone. Sound like a good laugh? It was

James Kennedy from SmartNote delivered the winning pitch. Personally I thought James had a slow start. However, in his closing argument he saved the day by contextualising his pitch to his potential customer as soon as he realised he wasn’t getting through. James’ use case was to send text message reminders to Jaipur’s customers.

James will now be flown from Ireland to the UK where he’ll attend OpenCoffee London to meet other likeminded people. Take a look at his proposition (James you really need to work on that Web site!) and if you’d like to partner or simply collaborate with James, please let me know and I’ll setup a meeting. Please feel free to get in touch if you’re a potential customer too. Following the OpenCoffee, James will attend an Internet People dinner thanks to Robert Loch’s kind invitation. Perhaps I’ll get him to stand on a chair at OpenCoffee and give a 1 minute pitch. What do you think?

Microsoft was kind enough to provide the winning pitch with a presentation pointing device, a copy of Vista and a copy of Office 2007. My thanks go to Ben Childers (get a blog Ben) and Ben Tamblyn.

Note to people who give short pitches. Keep it simple.

1. Explain the problem
2. Explain how you’re going to fix the problem
3. Explain why your solution is the best.

I was on one of the panels at the Essential Web event recently where this simple approach wasn’t taken by the majority of presenters. There’s another long awaited post to be written.

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I’m very sorry for inflicting Robert Loch upon you like this. I should have given prior warning. The picture was taken on our way back to the UK after Curry 2.0, where Rob gave his pitch about a new idea called Jokaoke (a bit like karaoke but for people who really can’t sing, rather than pretend they can’t before getting up and singing like a pro).

What started as an idea to entertain a few people over dinner, turned out to be a successful ‘networking event’ crammed with cool people who between them, traveled a few thousand miles to take part in some idle banter over a curry and glass of wine. We had folk fly in from the UK, Spain and the People’s Republic of Cork. My sincere thanks goes to everyone who attended but a special thanks is extended to those who collected air miles just for a curry (Jaipur only delivers within a 500 mile radius, sorry).

Left to right, Paul Walsh and Farzad Jamal.

I started the evening with a few games of pool with Dennis Howlett, Robert Loch and Farzad Jamal. I won, naturally.

We then moved onto Jaipur where we were greeted with some of the delights of Stormhoek wine. Whilst getting familiar with their surroundings, everyone sipped the only Rose wine specifically made to serve over Ice. Full fruity style, yet dry on the finish when served over ice, Stormhoek’s Couture Rose 2007 was a fresh start to the evening. It was also the beginning of my steady decline into a slightly inebriated state. For which I am (almost) sorry given that it’s captured on video thanks to Paul Campbell. I refuse to watch any video footage of myself so feel free no to comment on my performance

I introduced the evening’s entertainment as just that, entertainment; a time to sit back, relax and enjoy good food, wine and company. As the evening pressed ahead we got to taste more of Stormhoek’s offerings, which I may add, isn’t bad at all. The Sauvignon Blanc was my personal favourite. I won’t pretend to know anything about wine. I simply know what I like and dislike. I leave all that stuff to my restaurateur business partner Asheesh (oops, just realised we haven’t included a profile for him on the site!).

I’m hoping this will be the first of many similar events in Dublin (and other parts of Ireland should anyone wish to use the term Curry 2.0).

Left to right, Christ Smith Paul Walsh and Dan Teodosiu.

I spent some time chatting with Dan Teodosiu, Microsoft Director, Windows Live Europe. Very cool guy. He now wants to host some events at the Microsoft office. So, please leave a comment if you have any suggestions. Perhaps we could do something with the Blue Monster.

I didn’t hear this from Dan himself but Farzad filled me in on a (not-so) funny story. Apparently Dan went to college with Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The sore point is that Dan was offered a job which would have made him employee number 3! How sorry is he for not accepting that job offer. He’s not doing too badly though, as he sold his venture in the Valley to Microsoft and is now heading up Live. I look forward to working with him on a future event, or two.

Left to right, Paul Walsh and Brian Caulfield.

I’m pretty confident our worthy waiter purposely absconded just before the pitching session started. So, who better to replace our 100 meter sprinter than Sanjay, Head Chef. Brian Caulfield of Trinity Venture Capital was my independent adjudicator. It took Sanjay no time at all to decide that James Kennedy of SmartNote was the easiest pitch to understand. I don’t have a video clip of this particular pitch to hand so I’ll write a separate post and explain why I personally feel he deserved his place on the podium.

First up on the pitching session is a buddy of mine, Philip Wilkinson, Founder of Crowdstorm. This was a little different because Philip previously recorded a video clip especially for the occasion, which I ran on a laptop connected to some loud speakers.

It was good to have Maxim Kelly, Business Reporter for the Sunday Tribune (the first Irish newspaper to write something about me) at the table. I put Maxim on the spot by introducing him as one of the pitching companies. I love doing stuff like that. He did a fantastic job given that he had less than 5 seconds to prepare. I think I said something like ‘so, why should we read the Tribune Max?’ to which he had no choice but to respond.

Not only did Chris Smith from Stormhoek provide the wine for the evening, he also flew over from the UK to team up with Julian Alubaidy,from Bubble Brothers. It was good to get a pitch from Chris as it gave him the opportunity to further promote the brand. So Julian, what date are you launching Stormhoek in Ireland so we can start to stock it in Jaipur?

I spoke to Hugh MacLeod on the phone this morning and he has kindly agreed to sponsor the wine at a new event that Robert Loch and I am running (email me if you want to be invited, it’s invite only).

We even got a pitch from Dan Stevenson from Microsoft. I think this was a nice touch because it’s not exactly a startup. It does however, demonstrated how Microsoftians can hang out in the same playground with the rest of the kids.

I won’t run a commentary on each pitch. You can see them for yourself below thanks to Paul Campbell. The picture and sound quality isn’t great but I think that only adds to the character of the evening and demonstrates how impromptu it was. I’ll write a separate post which will include the winning pitch.
Thanks to Dennis Howlett for the pictures

It’s not actually Ben Childers pitching for Microsoft as it states on the YouTube video, it’s Dan Stevenson.

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In case you missed this, I’m hosting Curry 2.0 in one of Dublin’s finest eateries again on July 2nd. The doors are now closed unless you’ve already been given a personal invite from someone already attending. Looks like it’s going to be a great night with a really cool lineup of likeminded people who are going to watch startups pitch to a waiter in a minute.

May I ask each attendee to bring €25. Food is on me! €5 per person for service charge and the rest goes to the winning pitch. Thanks to Stormhoek, the wine will flow nicely for the evening.

For those of you attending, please note my mobile in case you have trouble making it tonight +44 (0)7738 758 848.

Venue, Jaipur, 41 South Great George’s St, Dublin 2
Time, (tonight!) 7pm

Paul Walsh (Me), Segala

• Robert Loch, Internet People
• Farzad Jamal, MIVA
• Dennis Howlett, AccMan
• Nicola Byrne, Balderton, AKA Benchmark
• Conor O’Neill, LouderVoice
• Tom Raftery, Ireland’s no 1 blogger
• Eoghan McCabe, eoghanmccabe.com
• Paul Campbell, pabcas.com
• Fergus Burns, Nooked
• Evert Bopp, Wimax EU
• Qamir Hussain, QHC Consulting
• Triona Carey, Blognation
• Joe Drumgoole, PutPlace
• Alan O’Rourke, Spoiltchild Design
• Ruairi OhAilin, Enterprise Ireland
• Fergal O’ Mullane, Bdirect)
• Derek Organ, 1time
• Ronan Cremin, .mobi
• Pat Phelan, Roam4free
• Chris Smith, Stormhoek
• Julian Alubaidy, Bubble Brothers
• Ben Childers, Microsoft
• Dan Stevenson, Microsoft
• Dan Teodosiu, Microsoft
• Brent Grainger, Segala
• Sorcha Moore
• Johnny Dunne, Whitebridge Capital
• Brian Caulfield, Trinity Venture Capital
• Stephen mccormack, wildwave
• James Kennedy, SmartNote
• Max Kelly, Tribune
• Derek Organ, 1time
  

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It’s lining up to be a great night with folk flying in from 3 countries just for a curry! Well, 4 countries when you count Cork. I just hope everyone is happy with their food on the night.

I’ve asked the restaurant to reserve the entire top floor so we can make as much noise as we like. It also means the cool startups won’t have to pitch in front of paying customers too. Check out my original blog post if this is new to you.

I’d like to thank Ben Tamblyn at Microsoft for offering Vista and Office 2007 to the winning pitch and Stormhoek for kindly sponsoring the wine for the evening. So, given that Hugh MacLeod is the creator of the Blue Monster on behalf of Steve Clayton at Microsoft, I thought it was approproate to use it here.

Below is a list of confirmed attendees (still awaiting confirmation from Hugh MacLeod). If you’d like to come for a bit of fun, please register your interest now. I’m looking for more investors to join us, so if you know of any then please point them this way.

• Me (Segala)
• Robert Loch (Internet People)
• Farzad Jamal (MIVA)
• Dennis Howlett (AccMan)
• Nicola Byrne (Balderton, AKA Benchmark)
• Conor O’Neill (LouderVoice)
• Tom Raftery (Ireland’s no 1 blogger)
• Eoghan McCabe (eoghanmccabe.com)
• Paul Campbell (pabcas.com)
• Fergus Burns (Nooked)
• Evert Bopp (Wimax EU)
• Qamir Hussain (QHC Consulting)
• Triona Carey (Blognation)
• Joe Drumgoole (PutPlace)
• Alan O’Rourke (Spoiltchild Design)
• Ruairi OhAilin (Enterprise Ireland)
• Fergal O’ Mullane (Bdirect)
• Derek Organ (1time)
• Ronan Cremin (.mobi)
• Pat Phelan (Roam4free)
• Chris Smith (Stormhoek)
• Julian Alubaidy (Bubble Brothers)

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I’m hosting Curry 2.0 in one of Dublin’s finest eateries again on July 2nd and inviting you to have a laugh with likeminded people whilst watching startups pitch to a waiter in a minute.

There will be an opportunity for startups to compete for the prize of a trip to OpenCoffee London where introductions will be made to potential partners and investors. All you have to do is pitch your product/service to a waiter in one minute. If you’re from the UK I’ll arrange for another prize.

I’m heading back to Dublin especially for this, so if you don’t live in Ireland think of the opportunity to have a BoozeFlight (aka excuse to have a laugh). You don’t need to be a techie to come along…

Places are limited so register your interest now to guarantee your place.

Business should be fun!

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