The other day I was thinking, wouldn't it be interesting to see a site come out that essentially acts as a broker or mirror of metadata from other sites? You could go to this site, enter a URL and have the metadata from that page presented to you in clean, crisp XML. It would be even better if this was turned into a Web service and the API was free for anyone to use. I would imagine there would be quite a bit of mashing potential!

Continue reading Does the World Need a Metadata Extraction Service?

Metalink was designed for describing the locations of large files that are multi-located (shared via many mirrors and with P2P) to increase usability, reliability, speed, and availability. If a server goes down during a download, download programs can automatically switch to another mirror. Or segments can be downloaded from different places at the same time, automatically, which can make downloads much faster.

Continue reading Metalink combines FTP and HTTP with optional P2P

I like to consider myself fair and balanced when speaking about most topics. To educate the uneducated and to balance things out a bit I have compiled a list of 5 problems we will likely run into when we reach the Semantic Web. Each problem is a side-effect of advances in technology, rushes to fill new niches, or the previous two plus the desire to make a quick dollar.

Continue reading 5 Problems of the Semantic Web

Many visitors to blogs are turning to feed readers for consuming their favorite content. Are we looking at a change in how we should judge the traffic of a Website? We are already seeing advertisements appear in feeds which helps solve the issue of monetizing feeds, which is especially beneficial to bloggers who prefer to give full feeds.

Continue reading Is feed-only consumption an issue for bloggers?

The value of a dataset may be determined by any number of factors, however it can generally be agreed upon that the data's accuracy, how difficult it is to re-create, its source, and other important factors can affect the value of the data. However, as technology evolves to allow easier access to the information we require, the value of dataset may eventually decrease over time.

Continue reading The value of current datasets in the Semantic Web

Two ways the Semantic Web may come to fruition are the top-down and bottom-up approaches. Using the bottom-up approach we would start from the bottom and work our way to the top by using a method like embedding RDF into Web documents to supply user agents with meta data. We are already seeing this type of action being taken by bloggers and other content creators. If we choose the top-down approach then we would start from the top and work our way down, using natural language processors to read existing Web documents and extract semantic metadata.

Continue reading Two approaches to creating the Semantic Web

ARC is a lightweight, SPARQL-enabled RDF system for mainstream Web projects. It is written in PHP and has been optimized for shared (or performance- or privilege-limited) Web environments. ARC facilitates the integration of RDF and SPARQL into PHP/MySQL frameworks.

ARC is a very well documented project, which I think is important for its success. Their documentation is clear, concise, and provides plenty of inline sample code to examine as you read and learn.

Continue reading ARC - RDF and SPARQL for PHP developers

A mashup is a hybrid Web application that combines complementary elements from two or more sources to create one integrated experience. Content used in mashups is generally sourced from a third party via an API or from Web feeds (e.g. RSS or Atom). Basically, the point is to take multiple data sources or Web services and turn them into something useful. The idea of combining Web services is not a new one, but it has gained immense traction in recent times and will likely continue to grow in popularity. In this entry I will be discussing both the promising future mashups offer and also potential pitfalls.

Continue reading Mashups: Opportunity, Innovation, and Money

• Semantic metadata for video and other multimedia?
• Will a new platform away from the browser have huge success? (ala Joost)
• How can video games benefit from what we're doing with the Semantic Web?
• Is Wikipedia the best playground for natural language processors to test their ability?
• Does the World Wide Web as we know it need to be replaced?
• Is HTTP inadequate for the future of the Web where streaming and maintaining state are becoming increasingly important?
• Are we entering another brutal browser war? Maybe this one will be different because we know the importance of compatability
• Will RDF or RDF/a be adopted by mainstream Web developers to markup semantic metadata?
• ...Or will something come along that's better suited and easier for beginners to pick-up
• Are we making any progress as-is towards our goal, or do we need to look for a different approach?
• Is the best course bottom-up (building the Semantic Web from the ground up by using semantic markup, microformats, RDF, etc) or is it top-down (using natural language processors to read the Web and make sense of it for us).
• With the freedom to create any RDF vocabulary or any ontology for that matter, will the real power be in mapping my meaning to your meaning?

Last night I had an interesting conversation with an online acquaintance about the Semantic Web. I was surprised to find that the mere mention of the name "Semantic Web" sent him into a 5 minute rant about how much he disliked everything to do with it. His biggest qualm was with what he considered to be the empty promises made by proliferators and supporters of the Semantic Web. One example promise was that the Web would be transformed into an artificial intelligence that will think and act independently from humans.

Continue reading Misconceptions of the Semantic Web versus reality