35 results for focus semantics

Microsoft has taken steps in the direction of supporting Semantic Web standards such as RDF, OWL, and SPARQL. While their support is minimal and not hyped very broadly it is still nice to see the them implementing these standards in their software. I also haven't seen any evidence that they wish to formulate a proprietary brand of these standards, so I have no complaints.

Continue reading How Microsoft Invests in Semantic Web Technologies

The World Wide Web has long been evolving towards the vision of the Semantic Web — an extension of the existing web through which machines are better able to interoperate and work on our behalf. It promises to infuse the Internet with a combination of metadata, structure, and various technologies so that machines can derive meaning from information, make more intelligent choices, and complete tasks with reduced human intervention. It is a dramatic vision that stands to transform the existing Web in devastatingly powerful ways.

Continue reading Introduction to the Semantic Web Vision and Technologies - Part 1 - Overview

After the last post about "web of agents", I received a few questions about the "web of data." A few readers mistook my argument to be opposite of a web of data. Don't get me wrong, I have never been opposed to the presentation of a "web of data." I only emphasize that the web-of-data presentation is short of describing the human-web relationship in the Semantic Web. To encourage the engagement of more ordinary people to the grand vision of the Semantic Web, we need a more user-oriented presentation, i.e. a web of agents.

Continue reading Metadata or Hyperdata, Link or Thread, What is a Web of Data?

When constructing the Semantic Web, we are actually building two varied aspects simultaneously. One aspect is the Web that includes things such as the communication protocols, the Web data presentation formats, and so on. In particular, we have invented new technologies such as RDF, OWL, SPARQL, and other W3C recommended Semantic Web standards. The other aspect is the semantics that represent the meanings of Web data. Building semantics is, however, different from building the Web.

Continue reading Building Semantics is Different from Building the Web

Let's face it, Web documents in their current state are just about the worst way we exchange data. It usually comes in the form of HTML or XHTML, and rarely validates to any degree. In order to begin our approach towards Tim Berners-Lee's dream of the Semantic Web we must begin writing valid, semantic markup.

Continue reading Semantic markup gives Web documents meaning

This post is a complement to the grassroots vs. ivory towers discussion. In the previous post, James mentioned two trends of realizing the dream of the Semantic Web. While the grassroots way encourages the wider adoption of the Semantic Web, the ivory-tower way stimulates the construction of Semantic Web standards. Besides all of these, these two sides indeed play different roles in weaving the Web — the destiny of web evolution.

Continue reading Weaving the Thread-Driven 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

It isn't difficult to imagine that in 10 or even 30 years into the future, the Web will be a dramatically different place. If you look at how quickly we've progressed in the last decade you can see that technology has a way of developing quite rapidly. It has been my observation that Web technology, specifically in the area of Web standards, seems to have always moved slower than other areas of technology. This is due to the immaturity of the medium; the World Wide Web can still be considered in its infancy. Another contributing factor to slow progress has been the difficulty surrounding browser vendors cooperating with each other and following standards properly.

Continue reading How long will the Web remain as we know it?

Right now there is more content being created than can be consumed. You might say "but all content gets consumed eventually, by someone." This is generally true and I completely agree. However, how much of that information is consumed by yourself? I will assert that it is a very small slice of the pie. Even if you focus on a single topic, there are simply too many publications. Try searching "Semantic Web" on Technorati or Bloglines to see just what I mean. It's a never ending flow of information. At the Web's current rate of expansion it will become harder and harder to keep up with it all.

Continue reading So much information, so little time for it all

The discussion of semantic search has gradually become popular. Just not long time ago, semantic search was thought to be barely a little bit more than a dream. At present, optimistic researchers have started to believe its possibility in the near future. Very recently at Read/WriteWeb, Dr. Riza C. Berkan, the CEO of Hakia (a company declared to perform "semantic search"), posted an article about semantic search that attracted much attention. Despite of agreeing with the post, here are more thoughts about semantic search.

Continue reading Semantic search has two legs