Much of the discussion is centered on the "semantic web," the term for how researchers believe information on the web can be intelligently labelled, interpreted and linked through applications that can draw relationships and discover buried information.
Computer scientists have grand visions for how the semantic web will help users cut to the core information they are seeking. A few years ago, attaching keywords to web pages was seen as the way to make orderly sense of data, but that is now increasingly viewed as inferior.
However, there is trepidation as to how this next version of the internet will develop, and if the new ideas can be translated into applications and interfaces that are easy for users.
"I think there's a chance actually that we can do better this time around," said Tim Berners-Lee, who is credited with inventing the World Wide Web in 1989. He was one of several panelists in a discussion about the semantic web Wednesday at the W3C (World Wide Web) conference.
"I think it's also possible we mess that up, and the Web 2.0 becomes a big mess of rather unreliable stuff which you end up having to go through with Google," he said.
Search engines may eventually be able to use pages optimised for semantic web content, although Berners-Lee jokingly predicted that search companies won't be overly enthusiastic about the concept.
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