A new Portal (Web Site) for the next Generation of the Web

A new web site has been created that is a Portal for the Semantic Web. “SemanticWeb.org” is a sophisticated information and community web site dedicated to the next generation web. The next generation promises to be a virtual wonderland where we'll be able to do all kinds of very interesting things, finding information with almost effortless ease, will be just one.

Is this a new World Wide Web system?

Yes and no, the Semantic Web, as it has been called by the original Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, is not a brand new system, rather, it is an extension of the current web. However, in the Semantic version information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation, something that will be new to many.

How is the semantic Web different to today’s version of the Web?

The Semantic Web is really more of a vision: the idea of having data (what most of us call information) on the web defined and linked in a way, that it can be used by machines - not just for display purposes, but for using it in various software applications or programs.

Today, the web is largely a human-machine system, what computer type people call the HCI (Human Computer Interface). If you want something on the web, you must do something like -- type in a Web address called an URL, open a bookmark, use a search engine, and some other type of manual method.

In dramatic contrast the semantic web, will enable meaningful machine-machine interactions. Architects of this new system, people like Berners-Lee, see a future where everything rather than being randomly thrown on the Web and randomly identified, each component will be both thoroughly defined, and linked in a way that significantly reduces the need for human intervention.

What will this mean to the average Internet user?

For a great many this opens up all kinds of exciting possibilities. Internet users will have a raft of small but “intelligent” bits of software known as agents working round the clock for us. The opportunities for these agents to act on our behalf and do our bidding is endless, doing everything from crawling the web to creating a persons own "personal" search engine based on their specific interests and needs, to negotiating with other agents for purchasing goods and services.

Will business have a great need for this type of Web?

Very much so, today’s e-commerce is very much a matter of “remote islands” trying to interact with other remote islands, all in all, not too successfully. E-commerce business requires much richer data. Retailers require this information to flow from wholesalers and wholesalers require information to flow from producers.

Information-exchange of this kind is currently very limited, consisting of very primitive mechanical methods. The Semantic Web will change the way we work. For example, building business software will be just a matter of finding the right components on the Web and a specification document linking to these components. The new software is again just a resource available on the Web.

Is this version of the Web available to use now?

Some of it is. A great many people are building and using the foundations of the semantic Web on today’s version of the Internet albeit most of us would not recognise them. As you would expect, much of this future is still under construction, with numerous groups around the world doing research, proposing standards, and building components of the semantic web.

What is “SemanticWeb.org” site all about?

SemanticWeb.org is an information and community portal dedicated to the next generation web. It features an extensive set of links to information about the semantic web, as well as pointers to research groups and projects.

Some of the more useful sections of the portal spotlight links to events, projects, semantic web companies, tools and knowledge sources, emerging standards and industrial deployments. There is also a good list of articles and other publications about the semantic web, ranging from a basic overview to detailed technical standards proposals.

Visiting SemanticWeb.org will provide a glimpse of the future web; it offers an excellent vantage point. http://www.semanticweb.org/

Who operates the SemanticWeb.org site?

Three research groups within Stanford University and the University of Karlsruhe currently operate SemanticWeb.org. The whole vision of the semantic web depends on agreeing upon a set of common standards – that is something that is used and extended everywhere.

Work is going on to realise the great many tools and techniques, which will help to create the Semantic Web. This site is dedicated to collect these approaches, to explain them and to be a forum for people interested in the Semantic Web.

Arthur Hissey
Computer Research & Technology
www.crt.net.au