“In the first phase of the internet, we connected information. The second phase connected people. The third phase is connecting people, places and things in a more dynamic and amplified way.”
The Augmented Workforce - Cathy Hackl and John Buzzell
Just as the internet disrupted traditional publishing businesses, so Web 3.0 is set to revolutionise how businesses and consumers interact in the post-pandemic world.
The rollout of 5G ultra-fast mobile networks and changing customer behaviours (around travel and business meetings) influenced by climate change and public health concerns, are combining to accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies in the workplace.
Fast forward another couple of years and it’s likely that the long-term changes forced upon us by COVID-19 (remote working and virtual meetings) will encourage business to invest more heavily in redesigning engaging, immersive experiences to take advantage of this new Web 3.0 connected world.
It's not hard to imagine the potential impact on business conferences and trade shows which, according to Denzil Rankine and Marco Giberti in their book Reinventing Live, have barely evolved in 30 years. Rumours of next-gen consumer technology like Apple or Google Glasses will bring augmented reality to the masses, overlaying useful data onto whatever the wearer is looking at.
For those event participants attending in person, imagine the myriad applications for ‘augmented networking’. Whether that’s details about the person you're speaking with, their interests, job title, current project focus, education or indeed offers from vendors or alerts about upcoming sessions just starting in the next room.
Virtual participants will interact with speakers, sponsors and fellow delegates via an immersive digital environment, replicating and enhancing the in-person experience. Once these hybrid experiences have been further refined and optimised, a delegate might choose to participate remotely not just because of the lower environmental impact and cost to attend but because virtual attendance is more productive and higher impact for the individual.
Joanna Penn discusses many of these topics in her recent podcast episode ‘The Metaverse for Authors and Publishers: Web 3.0, VR, AR, And The Spatial Web’. As an enthusiastic early-adopter for emerging technology, Joanna encourages all of us to experiment and learn from other industries in how they’re already using VR and augmented reality to great effect.
If Web 3.0 is anything like Web 2.0 then we’re set for an exciting (but exhausting!) decade of change and disruption but the potential is already clear.
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