Semantic Web: Fact or Myth?

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Nov 20

There are times when a stellar result is only achieved through cooperation across several communities. That was the case with the recent one-day program co-sponsored by NFAIS, CENDI and FLICC, The Semantic Web: Fact or Myth?. The program featured an outstanding array of speakers recruited by the sponsoring bodies, including Dr. Ralph Swick, Acting COO of the World Wide Web Consortium, Dr. Robert Kohout, Program Manager at DARPA, and Dr. James Hendler of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The take away (for me as a non-techie) from that event was the understanding that (a) the basic platform infrastructure required to support the development of the Semantic Web was now in place and (b) the next step in development was to increase access to raw data collections so that technologists could use such sets in honing the capabilities of the system and expanding practical use. One of the closing statements made by Dr. Ralph Swick was a plea that the agencies and private sector entities in the room not wait to make the data available even if the data did not conform to a specific ideal standard. Developers in different communities might then begin combining those sets and running the technology against those sets, resulting in visualizations that expose unidentified relationships or patterns, applications that speed research workflows for specific communities or enhance the broader knowledge of all.