Semantic Web Introduction Roadmap

joe10 — Fri, 09 May 2003 16:48:52 +0000

Here is a list of links which explain, in increasing levels of sophistication, an initiative which is attempting to make sense of the glut of information on the web.

The plan is to make it so computer programs can make logical assumptions and relationships between resources on the Web based on the semantics of their content. It is referred to as the Semantic Web.

The links that follow provide a gentle, if not brief, introduction to this initiative.

EXECUTIVE GUIDE

First, there’s an audio interview with Tim Berners-Lee which isn’t strictly about the Semantic Web, but it’s an easy listen and gets some key concepts across:
Interview with Tim Berner-Lee

Next, Scientific American has a somewhat long but engaging piece explaining the Semantic Web in lay terms:
NPR: Scientific American: The Semantic Web

The incomparable Peter Moreville has a very readable account of his peering into the bubble of Social Network Analysis which has a set of “See Also” links which are enough to keep the average person busy into the next millennia.
Semantic Studios: Social Network Analysis

and Discover Mag Online has a lay persons look at software which makes similar inferences based on your Email inbox:
Discover: Emerging Technology: Who Loves Ya, Baby?

On the software front, a company called Creo has a product called “Six Degrees” which promises to semantically link files on your desktop in a meaningful way.

Finally, Big Blue has a couple article on using this stuff to unite and network your chain of friends – kind of “six degrees of separation” concept.

IBM: XML Watch: Finding friends with XML and RDF

and

IBM: XML Watch: Support online communities with FOAF

There’s got to be something after that, but I’m not sure what. FOAF-Naut is about the graphically coolest thing I’ve seen. Requires the Adobe SVG plug-in though. Might be fun to improve in Flash.
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DEVELOPERS GUIDE

After that it leaves the ground rather abruptly, so if you want to dive in the deep end (if that’s not a train wreck of metaphors) then pop over to:

The WWW Consortium is the holder of the official Semantic Web torch:
W3C: The Semantic Web

RDF Web
is the home of lots of Friend of a Friend (FOAF) information

This guy
has many interesting links around this stuff

Avatarnets moving along… Peter Small

joe10 — Tue, 27 Nov 2001 16:47:38 +0000

Avatarnets moving along…
Peter Small has come a long way with his avaters as a group resource/info sharing medium. His concept of a “virtual cafe” is being used to some extent at:
Agent control panel
His main site give all the background data at:
http://www.avatarnets.com

Thought Process : Process Thoughts » Interaction Design

Semantic Web Introduction Roadmap

Avatarnets moving along… Peter Small