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Semantic Web…

March 22nd, 2007 · Comments

I tend to reject buzzwords, and semantic web is a term that’s as buzz-y as they come. The best ideas end up buzz-ified, though… I’ll do my dissertation on the Phases of the Web here soon, providing a different view on Web 2.0, etc. But today I am thinking about data, content… how to unlock it, associate it and describe it… so we can build more insightful ways for users to get their information. 

As a part off my quest I went back and re-read Tim Berners-Lee’s seminal paper on the Semantic Web. The clarity of insight into the problem is awe inspiring:

“The Semantic Web is not designed just as a new data model – it is specifically appropriate to the linking of data of many different models. One of the great things it will allow is to add information relating to different databases on the Web, to allow sophisticated operations to be performed across them.”

 

Yes. That’s what I want to do. The term Semantic Web just took on renewed meaning for me. Not buzz, but a path, a de-hyped recipe for getting good stuff done. In fact, there’s a sort of pragmatism that’s very appealing:   

“We remove the centralized concepts of absolute truth, total knowledge and total provability, and see what we can do with limited knowledge.”

 

I can work with that. The world is messy. Data, content and metadata are messy.

 

Yes. Now get on with it: create systems that can adapt to the chaos, take advantage of the specific design of each data source.

 

When you’re handling content from the Web this is a no-brainer. It’s very obvious. When thinking about a company with purpose-built databases/models, each with domain-specific content – with significant expense in creating, maintaining and cleansing highly structured data it’s a very different proposition. That’s the challenge of vertical search. Health, autos, financial services, shopping… we’ve all got the problem.

 

Who’s doing it well? I’m going to be digging in to get underneath this and I’d love to hear people’s thoughts if you happen by this post.

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    Well , Seems like you seem to be right on where the hot button is today, specially when we start talking about Enterprise Information Management.

    Semantic Web technologies under the controlled environment of a corporate is where most of the action as well as value today is.

    Pfizer is surely deep into leveraging the Semantic technologies to integrate its vast research, drug, trials and other DB's into one coherent consistent view. Some action is also starting to emerge in sectors like Oil & Gas .

    This surely sounds like music to ears for the publishing industry, Reuters, Thomson , Bloomberg, Dow Jones i.e. wherever Information is the key (almost everywhere ). Also important is the capability of providing an integrated view not only of the disparate data spread across applications, but also providing a bridge from Structured to unstructured content (almost completely unexplored area as yet)

    Oracle is pitching its deepest commitment to these technologies , by supporting Semantic technologies in its portfolio including DB, middleware, apart from supporting vendors to mushroom solutions around its core capabilities.
    e.g.
    http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/semantic_technologies/

    Vendors like Metatomix, TopQuadrent, Ontoprise , Smartlogic among other provide supporting technologies and mapping/modeling tools to let us move quickly into "semantic" world

    Well that is surely exciting and challenging, but who's gonna bell the cat and push this through the enterprise. It would not be easy to move enterprise and individuals fixated with "legacy" EAI approaches to a semantic technologies paradigm..

    That would take some doing!!!! I hope that it works out much better than what's happening today
 

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