What is the Semantic Web?

The internet and the World Wide Web are growing at outstanding rates. The amount of data and information currently available is staggering. It is getting to the point where conventional tools cannot handle all of the data presently available. The next generation World Wide Web will be the Semantic Web. This is an emerging technology whereby the Web, and web pages, through the use of semantic markup, will become more machine-readable. This will enable machines, in the form of intelligent agents, to handle many of the tasks associated with managing the data and information.

The World Wide Web Consortium, coined W3C, develops interoperable Web technologies and produces specifications, guidelines, software and tools. It is the focal point of information regarding any Web technology. Their official definition of the Semantic Web is

“The Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. It is a collaborative effort led by W3C with participation from a large number of researchers and industrial partners. It is based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF), which integrates a variety of applications using XML for syntax and URIs for naming.”

In the next few years, applications will collect and process Web content in new and dynamic ways. Because of the powerful tools that will be available for using semantic content, essentially every company, educational institution, government agency and scientific institution will want their Web resources linked to ontological content. Agent communication will become the dominant way in which computers interact with humans and with other computers.

How is this Accomplished?

In order for this evolution of the Web to occur, some key things must happen. First, web pages need to change and become more understandable to machines. Semantic markup allows web content to be read and understood by machines and is created by using semantic languages. Read More about Semantic Markup.

The next area to be developed is that of normalization. Normalization is the area of the semantic web that discusses ontologies created and managed by separate and distinct sources and how they can be integrated with each other. Read More about Semantic Normalization. Read More about Semantic Normalization.

Security is also a major concern because the semantic web is both decentralized and diverse, and it is extremely difficult to implement a set of generic policies that apply to all users. Read More about Security. Read More about Semantic Security.

In addition, powerful semantic search engines will soon become an intricate part of modern day society. Read More about Semantic Search Engines. Read More about Semantic Search Engines.