Next big step for the Web--or a detour?

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itself on the fly based on the needs of a particular visitor. Search engines could narrow down results with greater precision.

"This is about connecting the data to its definition and context," Eric Miller, Semantic Web activity lead for the W3C, said in a Tuesday keynote address to several hundred conference participants. "We're moving from a Web of documents to a Web of data.

The W3C acknowledges that existing technologies already satisfy some of the needs the Semantic Web is designed to fill. One is the consortium's XML recommendation for creating highly descriptive and computer-friendly markup languages. Others have to do with rapidly evolving database management systems.

"It's not entirely clear to me what problem these guys think they're solving."

--Peter O'Kelly,
analyst, Burton Group

But Berners-Lee and others developing the new technology envision a comprehensive shift in the way data is exposed to the Web.

"When a large enterprise designs lots of database schemas and XML schemas, the designers are making arbitrary design choices about exactly how to build the system," Berners-Lee said.

"These choices have no actual connection to the real application, yet they are baked into the system," he added. "Anyone who uses the data has to know what these decisions are."

Key goals for the Semantic Web architects include reuse of data and what backers call "recombinant effects."

They hope that by letting computers digest and exchange information about context and meaning--a word that raises the hackles of artificial intelligence critics--they will allow data to survive the systems where it originated and traverse different applications as easily as browsers traverse the Web's billions of pages today. As that data takes on a virtual life of its own, it could be exploited and combined in unexpected and unexpectedly profitable ways, the thinking goes.

"The really exciting thing isn't that you can merge your own data between applications--that's like links on your own Web site," Berners-Lee said. "The really exciting thing happens when others have their data in a mergeable format and make it available. When that public information becomes mergeable, we're in for the next, very pronounced stage of Web evolution."

Security worries
That brave new world of interchangable data--"exposing data hiding in documents, servers and databases," in Miller's words--elicits both skepticism and alarm from critics of the emerging project.

One concern is that businesses with a Semantic Web presence may have a new headache in trying to prevent information from being unintentionally shared.

"We don't want to have this universal network of knowledge that makes everything accessible to all parties," said the Burton Group's O'Kelly. "Companies need to be circumspect about disclosure."

The W3C, acknowledging concerns about corporate and personal privacy, says it plans a Semantic Web rules system for information

[Sentinel]

All about the docs...

So the W3C is busy again, huh? And oh, big news, writing more DOCUMENTS. Seems that writing documents and protocols is all they do. When will we see the first completely HTML 4 compliant browser? One which doesn't add extra tags to the standard of its own. When the W3C writes it, because propietary companies just don't follow the standard. Interesting, though, that Microsoft, known for having added a lot of extra tags and security compromising features to their browser, is a member of the W3C. I think the W3C is a small organization which claims to standarize the Internet, but is bullied by companies who insist in doing whatever they think is right. They invented XML to, precisely, allow companies to do just that: do whatever they want with the Web. Don't get me wrong, I admire Mr. Berners-Lee for his great contribution, I just think the W3C has given to much freedom to companies. This Semantic Web will be just another layer-on-top of the current World Wide Web, which companies will also mutate to their will.

W3C and proprietary extensions

Interesting and provocative post. I wonder how you would propose that the W3C respond to companies that "embrace and extend" its recommendations. When you say that the W3C has given those companies "too much freedom," what exactly do you mean, and how do you suggest the consortium could exercise authority over its paying members?

[John Kuzak]

W3C is busy

http://www.analogstereo.com/renault_scenic_owners_manual.htm

Automation is the Key

Rather than complain about those who are trying to do something positive and productive with their energy, one should contribute and assist where applicable.

From my point of view, the ability to dynamically consume services over the web based on a resource description framework is a VERY positive step forward in the evolution of the web. It is precisely this type of activity, removed from the slow mechanical process of human intervention, which will enable all of us to create the higher order operations where the true value-add can be harvested.