Comments on: The Real Semantic Web http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/index.php/2008/03/the-real-semantic-web/ Inspired by Actual Events Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:00:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: swhitley http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/index.php/2008/03/the-real-semantic-web/comment-page-1/#comment-18098 swhitley Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:13:15 +0000 http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/?p=505#comment-18098 Thanks for the comment, Bill. Yes, I'm looking forward to the day when those Mac features are pervasive. Thanks for the comment, Bill. Yes, I’m looking forward to the day when those Mac features are pervasive.

]]> By: Bill Hood http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/index.php/2008/03/the-real-semantic-web/comment-page-1/#comment-18009 Bill Hood Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:54:19 +0000 http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/?p=505#comment-18009 Shannon, very interesting idea. However, you must know that the Macintosh operating system has been doing a part of this for many years. Whenever, I get an email about a party with a date in the email, there is a link that when scrolled over that allows me to retrieve the date and place an event on my calendar. It picks up the date and transfers it to the correct date on the calendar and then places the name of the event in the subject line. The Mac also does this with email addresses, places, and other pertinent information. While it is not as sophisticated as what you propose, it is getting there. I am not a programmer and do not understand the coding that is present, but I know it works well. It can read the date in most formats, i.e. December 17, 2008 or even 120808, 12082008, 08122008, etc. Likewise, I use the Answers Plug In on Firefox to highlight a place name on the Internet and click on the CTRL key to get as much information on a place as I need. If the place is Anaheim, I get coordinates, weather, map, population and so much more. I can do the same on a person's name. I believe that the Internet is much closer to what you describe than one might think. Granted it is not encoded as you suggest, but still, there are Plug Ins that are working to make this happen. I have another friend in Dallas, Texas, Daniel Miller that has been working on Social Software that is much closer to linking the people of the world than anyone might imagine. From his website at http://sugarfilled.com/daniel: Daniel Miller is a web producer with 10 years experience in information technology, eight of which have been spent exclusively in web design, development and content management. He has worked with everyone from mom-and-pop shops on the Florida coast to multinational technology companies in Sydney and Tel-Aviv. I can't wait until tomorrow happens on the Internet! Bill Hood Bill Hood Consulting Shannon, very interesting idea. However, you must know that the Macintosh operating system has been doing a part of this for many years. Whenever, I get an email about a party with a date in the email, there is a link that when scrolled over that allows me to retrieve the date and place an event on my calendar. It picks up the date and transfers it to the correct date on the calendar and then places the name of the event in the subject line.

The Mac also does this with email addresses, places, and other pertinent information. While it is not as sophisticated as what you propose, it is getting there. I am not a programmer and do not understand the coding that is present, but I know it works well. It can read the date in most formats, i.e. December 17, 2008 or even 120808, 12082008, 08122008, etc.

Likewise, I use the Answers Plug In on Firefox to highlight a place name on the Internet and click on the CTRL key to get as much information on a place as I need. If the place is Anaheim, I get coordinates, weather, map, population and so much more.

I can do the same on a person’s name.

I believe that the Internet is much closer to what you describe than one might think. Granted it is not encoded as you suggest, but still, there are Plug Ins that are working to make this happen.

I have another friend in Dallas, Texas, Daniel Miller that has been working on Social Software that is much closer to linking the people of the world than anyone might imagine.

From his website at http://sugarfilled.com/daniel: Daniel Miller is a web producer with 10 years experience in information technology, eight of which have been spent exclusively in web design, development and content management. He has worked with everyone from mom-and-pop shops on the Florida coast to multinational technology companies in Sydney and Tel-Aviv.

I can’t wait until tomorrow happens on the Internet!

Bill Hood
Bill Hood Consulting

]]> By: Jason Ryan http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/index.php/2008/03/the-real-semantic-web/comment-page-1/#comment-13265 Jason Ryan Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:44:58 +0000 http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/?p=505#comment-13265 Another example of interesting work in the public sector, Seb Chan at the Powerhouse Museum using Open Calais to index and tag their huge collection: <blockquote> It is important to remember that there is no way that this structured data could be generated manually - the volume of legacy data is too great and the burden on curatorial and cataloguing staff would be too great. <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/australian_museum_uses_open_calais.php" title="Read/WriteWeb article quoting Chan" rel="nofollow">Seb Chan</a> </blockquote> Another example of interesting work in the public sector, Seb Chan at the Powerhouse Museum using Open Calais to index and tag their huge collection:

It is important to remember that there is no way that this structured data could be generated manually – the volume of legacy data is too great and the burden on curatorial and cataloguing staff would be too great.
Seb Chan

]]> By: swhitley http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/index.php/2008/03/the-real-semantic-web/comment-page-1/#comment-13251 swhitley Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:54:15 +0000 http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/?p=505#comment-13251 John, ceej75, and Joe, Thanks for the comments and links. I love this topic. It provides so much fodder for really deep discussions about our future. John, ceej75, and Joe,

Thanks for the comments and links. I love this topic. It provides so much fodder for really deep discussions about our future.

]]> By: Joe Moraca http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/index.php/2008/03/the-real-semantic-web/comment-page-1/#comment-13239 Joe Moraca Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:09:43 +0000 http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/?p=505#comment-13239 Great post .... good that you are "keeping it real" and not floating on hype. I quoted you at <a href="http://webdevgeeks.com/shannon-whitley-asks-who-will-semantically-markup-their-html" rel="nofollow">webdevgeeks.com</a> Great post …. good that you are “keeping it real” and not floating on hype. I quoted you at webdevgeeks.com

]]> By: Quote: The Real Semantic Web « if you sit on the fence you *will* fall in http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/index.php/2008/03/the-real-semantic-web/comment-page-1/#comment-13234 Quote: The Real Semantic Web « if you sit on the fence you *will* fall in Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:16:35 +0000 http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/?p=505#comment-13234 [...] Nice post & comment via @jasonwryan on the semantic web. [...] [...] Nice post & comment via @jasonwryan on the semantic web. [...]

]]> By: John Atkinson http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/index.php/2008/03/the-real-semantic-web/comment-page-1/#comment-13233 John Atkinson Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:41:55 +0000 http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/?p=505#comment-13233 Good thoughts. I agree that we can't expect "regular people" to change their behavior to learn to write to a "format" computers can understand, and that the focus should be on making tech adapt to the way we write. (to ID which words are "codes" based on the context- i.e. surrounding words). I feel it can be done, based on working with text-to-speech technology, which determines pronunciation based on context(similar principle, different output) I'm not smart enough to figure it out, but others are -and they're probably already working on it. Good thoughts. I agree that we can’t expect “regular people” to change their behavior to learn to write to a “format” computers can understand, and that the focus should be on making tech adapt to the way we write. (to ID which words are “codes” based on the context- i.e. surrounding words).

I feel it can be done, based on working with text-to-speech technology, which determines pronunciation based on context(similar principle, different output)

I’m not smart enough to figure it out, but others are -and they’re probably already working on it.

]]> By: swhitley http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/index.php/2008/03/the-real-semantic-web/comment-page-1/#comment-13229 swhitley Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:08:30 +0000 http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/?p=505#comment-13229 You're absolutely right, Jason. I'd just hope the true computer scientists are investing their time wisely. (Some, I fear, are not.) Leave the current wave of semantic data to grunts like me. I want them to focus far beyond where we are today. You’re absolutely right, Jason. I’d just hope the true computer scientists are investing their time wisely. (Some, I fear, are not.) Leave the current wave of semantic data to grunts like me. I want them to focus far beyond where we are today.

]]> By: Jason Ryan http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/index.php/2008/03/the-real-semantic-web/comment-page-1/#comment-13228 Jason Ryan Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:42:37 +0000 http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/?p=505#comment-13228 I think you are pretty close to the money here Shannon, but there is room for a couple of other points. There is already a class of web apps producing semantic data: those that use controlled values (or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_vocabulary" title="Wikipedia entry on controlled vocabs" rel="nofollow">controlled vocabulary</a>) in their entry fields (<a href="http://flickr.com" title="flickr" rel="nofollow">flickr</a> and <a href="http://upcoming.yahoo.com/" title="Upcoming" rel="nofollow">Upcoming</a> spring to mind). So there is a steadily increasing amount of structured data out there... The other point I would make is that for some publishers, government is one, publishing structured data is not a choice, but a necessity, for economic and social reasons. I would like to be able to wait until machines can read our data, I just don't think that is a good enough argument for not acting now. And, looking at the apps that you build, I suspect you might feel the same way. I think you are pretty close to the money here Shannon, but there is room for a couple of other points.
There is already a class of web apps producing semantic data: those that use controlled values (or controlled vocabulary) in their entry fields (flickr and Upcoming spring to mind). So there is a steadily increasing amount of structured data out there…
The other point I would make is that for some publishers, government is one, publishing structured data is not a choice, but a necessity, for economic and social reasons.
I would like to be able to wait until machines can read our data, I just don’t think that is a good enough argument for not acting now. And, looking at the apps that you build, I suspect you might feel the same way.

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