Surfing the semantic web

Last week Yahoo announced that it would adopt some of the key standards of the 'semantic web'. But what exactly is the semantic web and what differences will it make to the internet?

The semantic web was first propounded by Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the Web, as far back as 2001. Semantic technology is widely seen as the next progression of the web and it involves a much richer understanding of the mass of data placed online, but the technology has been slow to catch on. That is until now.

The cornerstone of the internet is the 'link', bringing together millions of documents, which surfers are able to retrieve at the click of a mouse.

The semantic web will derive its power in a similar manner, but through the linking of data rather than documents.

Ivan Herman, a semantic web expert at W3C (the WorldWide Web Consortium), gives the example of signing up to a social network like Facebook or Bebo.

Once your personal data has been entered, it is stored in millions of documents and in databases on the web. Previously there was no way of linking this data, but the semantic web is able to retrieve and pull all this data together, so theoretically it could input your personal information should you join another social network.

Likewise, Herman said the semantic web will benefit the medical world as well as businesses as data will be derived and shared in a more efficient and resourceful manner.

However, "surfers are not likely to see new web pages on the browser that look different, the changes will be under the hood and behind the scenes", Herman said.

In essence, the semantic web will result in even more information being made available on the web, but also more related information.

For an in-depth look at the semantic web and its implications check out Issue 185 of Web User, on sale 10 April.

www.w3.org/2001/sw