Recently in Semantic Web Category

The semantic web turned me into a flip-flopper. I’ve heard from both the positive and negative camps. The positive camp thinks the semantic web will revolutionize the web. The negative camp thinks the semantic web is nothing more than fancy metadata. I have yet to hear from anyone sitting in the middle. I think I might be the only one...

At first, I leaned toward the negative camp. I wasn’t seeing any real applications and the conferences I attended didn’t help much. Then came along SearchMonkey and OpenCalais and I was square in the positive camp. I officially flip-flopped and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

While researching SearchMonkey, I was led to Swoogle. I became excited about Swoogle for a couple of reasons: 1. It is a semantic search engine; 2. It came out of my alma mater, UMBC. I was thrilled to learn that my medium-sized, liberal arts school grew up to be an Honor’s University researching semantic web technologies. I felt like I just reconnected to one of my former lives…

That reconnect was quickly lost. After reading the multitude of web pages that discuss Swoogle, I found a web page that states the project ended in December 2006. Was Swoogle a victim of being ahead of its time? Did it fail? I have no idea because no one from Swoogle replied to my inquiry. I tried contacting a Swoogle researcher and was rewarded with silence. What happened to Swoogle? I started slowly leaning back to the negative camp.

And then along comes CrunchBase, who released what some have called an “awesome API.” I learned about the CrunchBase API from reading a blog post with the title, “Semantic Web by Example.” A title like that always catches my attention. As I’ve said before in this blog, we need more examples of semantic web technologies. And it looks like developers are heeding the call.

I’ve decided to ride the semantic web fence. Where do you side with semantic web technologies? Are you in the positive camp or the negative camp? Share your thoughts in the comments.

When I started with DevX, I knew nothing of the Semantic Web and the technologies that surround it. As I researched the subject, I realized that while a segment of the developer community was heavily touting semantic technologies (ST), that everyday use was still three-quarters of a mile out of reach. One of the main issues surrounding ST is a lack of available functionality for the user. Sure, I’ve seen lots of examples, and lots of demos, but nothing grabbed me that made me say, this is way cool, this is something I could use. That is, until now.

Today, DevX posted an article by James Leigh that describes how to get started with OpenCalais and SearchMonkey. These tools offer functionality that could be used by developers and the public. The OpenCalais tool (OpenCalais 2.1 just went live), offers a means to create metadata that describes a document’s content. And who of us in this blogging world, who realizes that content is king, would not find something like that useful? Especially if it means that authors and editors no longer have to manually create metadata, and instead, a tool can extract it for us. To me, that’s awesome.

SearchMonkey, as we all know by now, can enhance how your site appears in search results. And who in this business-minded world does not want control of their marketing and branding; especially in a front-line environment like search engines? Stay tuned to DevX for an upcoming article from Peter Mika entitled, Semantic Search Arrives to the Web.

With the advent of Calais 2.1 and SearchMonkey, it appears that ST can become a must-have tool in a developer’s war chest. I encourage you to read James’ article and to research these tools more.

The 2008 Semantic Technologies conference wrapped up this week and I walked away with a feeling of (yawn) nothing much going on here. True, the conference did have a record-breaking 1000 attendees, and Oracle was a major sponsor, but where was IBM, where was Google? Yahoo was there in strength and had a few sessions. But from what I saw on the registration list, Google only sent a couple of scientists and IBM sent a small handful of researchers. This tells me that the majority of big players are keeping an eye on things but are not committing their front-line grunts to anything, at least not yet, and the conference is going on four years running now. In tech years, that’s like a 100 years.

I don’t think I’m the only one not getting it…

To paraphrase a few conversations I overheard in the hall, “They’re trying to link this language with this technology, but I don’t see why when you can do it easier with something else.”

To paraphrase a lunch conversation, “RDF is way too complicated. Only top scientists and A+ students are really working with it right now. There’s far too steep a learning curve for the average developer to pick this up and run with it.”

Even with a lack of Big Names and a reputation of being complex, the folks who did attend are calling for semantic technologies to reach critical mass. That’s putting the horse behind the cart. The industry needs to show functional applications that are easy to implement. If they can do that, then critical mass will follow. If you have to ask for critical mass, it won’t come, it has to come to you.

I heard a few challenges put out there for companies to start releasing applications, not just in theory, but in functionality. Hopefully, Radar Networks will do that with Twine in the Fall, and maybe MySpace might actually make some real announcements. But the real challenges, as I understand them, is to lower the learning curve and bring front-line developers into the fold.

Dean Allemang gave an extremely informative talk at JavaOne today in the session, “Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist.” I walked away thinking the term Semantic Web is misnamed. And that alone can sum up the major issues surrounding the Semantic Web. Using the term ‘Semantic Web’ implies that the technologies and the concepts can work on the public web. Think for a quick second on how large the web is—it might not be as large as the universe we live in—but it might as well be. Think of all the different ways words are used, think of all the different languages, think of all the misuse of words, think of the general destruction language itself suffers through and then try and build technologies that rely on using language and words to compile information and present it in a usable fashion. You might as well re-invent language itself, teach the entire web-using world how to speak that language, and then insist that everyone uses that language consistently. Then you would have a workable Semantic Web. I don’t easily say that something is impossible, but the very idea of a Semantic Web makes me come very close to saying, this is impossible.

Semantic technologies, on the other hand, are something very different. Forget about compiling public information from all corners of the web into a centralized location. Instead, think about a closed database in which a controlled ontology exists. For semantic technologies to work you need terms clearly defined and used consistently. And when that happens you do have the power to create mash ups and applications that use databases in effective manners. This idea of revitalizing the usage of databases is itself remarkable with what can be accomplished.

If you place these semantic applications on the web, I guess you could call it the Semantic Web, it does sound a little more official that way. But is that accurate? And doesn’t that sum up, once again, the problem with the term, Semantic Web?

The “Developing Semantic Web Application on the Java Platform” session just wrapped up at the Moscone Center. Did the panel discuss Java to the audience of Java developers in attendance? No, not really. Did it matter? No, not really. The nearly full room remained nearly full through the hour-long session. And that was a good sign.

The panel discussed real-life applications and four out of five panelists related Semantic Web technologies to social networking. MySpace, Facebook, Del.icio.us, and iTunes were all mentioned (and Amazon as well) in regards to how the Semantic Web can take full advantage of the data on those sites. To paraphrase a panelist, ‘The data is out there and Semantic Web technologies will serve it up to you.’

There was an announcement of sorts, which I thought was rather old news, that Yahoo! will begin officially supporting Semantic Technologies (they have always supported Semantic Technologies) on May 15. I guess the date of May 15 is the new news. The excitement behind this is that Yahoo! should begin creating API’s with the  Semantic Web in mind. It was touted that with Yahoo's support, this should be the year for the Semantic Web to take off.

Using the well-established notion of social networking on the web as a foundation for the Semantic Web was a key point from the panelists. The formula for using Semantic Web technologies was, ‘where is the data, how do we process it, and how do we bring it in?’ GRDDL, RDF, and database technologies appear to be the answers for, ‘how do we bring it in.’

The hard part—which was quickly discussed at the very end of the session—was the necessity of logical links that can be accessed. All of the sample applications the panel discussed were basically the same thing: one-stop shop access to all of your friend’s data, no matter where on the web the data originated. This one-stop shop allows for single sign on access and eliminates the need to visit several different sites to catch up with your friends and family. The Semantic Web technologies use URL’s to gather the data. What is needed are logical links that can be accessed to compile the data. The data is out there—the technologies to compile the data exist—the tough part is putting the two together. Is it possible and will it work?

The Semantic Web is a vision, an idea, a base-set of technologies. It's not something Dad picks up at the computer store. It's not something the press understands very well. It's certainly not on the minds of the general public. It's not even something my brother-the-developer fully understands. Lots of head nods from that one as I describe it's several aspects. 

A great example of Semantic Web technologies at work is the calendar on the 2008 Semantic Technology Conference site. While it's main purpose is a calendar—it also has a favorite's feature—but ultimately it's a search function on overdrive. The calendar contains a little of this and a little of that; which compliments the many aspects of Semantic Web technologies. And that's awesome to have a clear-cut example of a real-life application. We need more.

It's time the Semantic Web moves out of the idea phase and moves into the application phase. And that leads to a clearer understanding for everyone.