Web 3.0 is the next iteration of the World Wide Web, which is expected to change not only the dynamics of the business of the internet, but also how we, as users, interact with and leverage that medium. Costanza Gallo, the Ecosystem Manager at Swarm, discusses Web 3.0 and among other things: how it is expected to change the current power dynamics of the internet; policy issues that still need to be addresses with regard to Web 3.0; and how far away we are from Web 3.0 being a reality.

 

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Whether we fully realise it or not, the World Wide Web is evolving. Many of us may not have been online in the mid-1990s and early 2000s to have experienced the first iteration of the Web, now referred to as Web 1.0. The mid-2000s saw the emergence of Web 2.0: the version of the Web with which we are all familiar, and which has facilitated, among other things, social media, interactivity, and the average user becoming content creators. Web 3.0, also known as Web3, represents the next iteration of the Web that is beginning to emerge.

Without a doubt, Web3 will be transformational – to not only how we interact online, but also we do business and interact in the physical world. However, and at this time, Web 3.0 is just a term we might have heard of, but really don’t know the nuts and bolt of what it is about. We thus thought it opportune to start the conversation, to help us begin to get acquainted with Web 3.0, and to begin figure out the impact it could have and how might be able to benefit from first-mover advantage in this space as well.

To be clear, Web3 is not yet fully developed, and so there is no single definition or standard for what exactly it is. So far, much of the focus has been on its key features, which include: being decentralised, trustless and permissionless; information and content being more connected and ubiquitous; and being able to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

Having said this, it is also prudent that we to begin to consider Web3 through the lens of blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, the metaverse, AI, the Internet of Things, and virtual and augmented reality. We should no longer think of these concepts in isolation. They all seem to be converging and Web 3.0 is be the foundation upon which they all sit.

 

Introducing our guest

Costanza Gallo

Costanza Gallo is the Ecosystem Manager at Swarm, which is a system of peer-to-peer networked nodes that create a decentralised storage and communication service for a sovereign digital society.

Costanza has been working in business development for tech companies since 2012, for companies like Oracle and Rocket Internet. She entered the crypto rabbit hole in 2018, and joined Golem Network, a Web3 company, in 2020. In October 2021 she joined Swarm, where she focuses on growing the ecosystem of projects building with web3 technologies. 

Costanza has a Master of Science degree from the London School of Economics in Law, Anthropology and Society, where she focused on the freedom of information. She is currently based in Italy.

 

Insights into our conversation

As a first conversation on Web 3.0,  we are off to a great start with Costanza. Besides providing some insights into what Web3 is, she also illustrates with many examples some of the challenges with Web 2.0 as we know it, and how Web3 offers solutions.

An important discussion point during our conversation was that of digital inclusion: no one being left behind. Here in the Caribbean region, and depending on the country, we still have large segments of our populations that: do not have access to the internet – where coverage is an issue; do not have access to the latest internet technologies; and/or that cannot afford the services that are available. These are challenges that need to be urgently addressed, especially as we are transitioning to digital societies and in the world of Web3.

Below are some of the questions posed to Costanza during our conversation:

  1. To start us off, do tell us a little bit about yourself and Swarm
  2. What does ‘Web 3.0’ mean?
  3. Currently, a few select companies—like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon—have enormous control over the data the Internet produces. Web 3.0 is expected to change that construct. In what ways is that likely to happen?
  4. What role is blockchain technology expected to play in Web 3.0?
  5. How, or to what degree, to you think Web 3.0 will support or facilitate the Metaverse?
  6. Are there policy or internet  governance issues that may need to be addressed in relation to Web 3.0?
  7. How far away are we from Web 3.0 being a reality?
  8. For the end-user, us as consumers, how is it envisaged that we will use or interact with Web 3.0?

 

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Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  C Gallo;  TheDigitalArtist (Pixabay);  Chris P Jobling (flickr); TheDigitalArtist (Pixabay)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell