6) How does it differ from web 3.0?
After conducting some research into the concept of semantic web, it seems like the main difference is, unsurprisingly, do to with meaning. Web 3.0 is merely able to present you with preset information, for example the layout of a web-site, links to other sites, the ability to search and then filter your results. However, it doesn’t have an understanding of the meaning behind the information it is presenting, human agency is required to actually make any useful sense of the information.
Semantic web, on the other hand, it is proposed will be able to understand the information it is telling you. In this way the possibilities from the web are dramatically increased. The article I was reading talks of an “agent” within a handheld web browser, this “agent” is able to search for information and marry it with other variables, the example given being able to search through a doctors schedule, and match it with your own to see when you are free to have an appointment, and further to when traffic is best and so on.
Berners-Lee,T., J. Hendler and O. Lassila (2001) ‘The Semantic Web’, Scientific American Volume 284 (Issue 5): P.28–37.
Showing posts with label Berners-Lee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Berners-Lee. Show all posts
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
9.5- Semantic Web
5) What is the 'semantic web'?
According to Berners-Lee within Scientific American, ‘The Semantic Web’, semantic web will be the next generation of the Web. However, the key difference is that the semantic web will not merely regurgitate pre-programmed information back to you; it will understand the deeper meaning of the data and be able to use it in a similar way which a human would interpret it. No longer will computers think in terms of lists of 0 and 1, instead it will have a much deeper understanding and be able to help us in ways which were previously impossible.
This therefore opens up lots of new possibilities from the web. Things will be able to be synchronized with each other with a lot more logic than previously possible. However, to me this seems like an extremely large task. How can a computer possibly have the same logic and thinking as a human can? To me it seems like there will inevitably be a number of “holes” with this system, as there are just too many possibilities and variables which go through the human mind which a computer cannot replicate. Maybe this is because such technology seems inconceivable to me given the basic problems of technology at the moment (basic things like being unable to filter search results more specifically or by the required number of fields, I am always being told “your search has generated no results, please edit your search and try again”) Although I am reassured that this technology is on its way, to me it seems a long way off before this ideal is put into useful practice in everyday life.
Berners-Lee,T., J. Hendler and O. Lassila (2001) ‘The Semantic Web’, Scientific American Volume 284 (Issue 5): P.28–37.
According to Berners-Lee within Scientific American, ‘The Semantic Web’, semantic web will be the next generation of the Web. However, the key difference is that the semantic web will not merely regurgitate pre-programmed information back to you; it will understand the deeper meaning of the data and be able to use it in a similar way which a human would interpret it. No longer will computers think in terms of lists of 0 and 1, instead it will have a much deeper understanding and be able to help us in ways which were previously impossible.
This therefore opens up lots of new possibilities from the web. Things will be able to be synchronized with each other with a lot more logic than previously possible. However, to me this seems like an extremely large task. How can a computer possibly have the same logic and thinking as a human can? To me it seems like there will inevitably be a number of “holes” with this system, as there are just too many possibilities and variables which go through the human mind which a computer cannot replicate. Maybe this is because such technology seems inconceivable to me given the basic problems of technology at the moment (basic things like being unable to filter search results more specifically or by the required number of fields, I am always being told “your search has generated no results, please edit your search and try again”) Although I am reassured that this technology is on its way, to me it seems a long way off before this ideal is put into useful practice in everyday life.
Berners-Lee,T., J. Hendler and O. Lassila (2001) ‘The Semantic Web’, Scientific American Volume 284 (Issue 5): P.28–37.
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