Question: What do you do if you're not a computer scientist but you are interested in understanding what all this Semantic Web stuff is about?
Answer: Watch this video!
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Hi,
this seems to be a bunch of issues we have been addressing in the pattern recognition and machine learning research community for 15 years + some standardization issues. No ?
Marc
Posted by: marc44 | January 29, 2008 at 12:22 PM
This video fills a need that I see as being among the greatest for the near-term success of the Semantic Web: explaining to people this vision that we see, where information and the access to it take their next profound step. But because it is such a grand concept to explain, people either lose interest amidst the terminology or conclude that the vision is nothing but a mere refinement of current technology.
Perhaps a similar situation challenged the proponents of the printing press as it became feasible in the 1400s: They also saw a vision of widely available information, accessible by multitudes of people, at fractions of the cost and time.
But in their enthusiasm for the process — explaining the intricacies of movable type, sheet feeders and impressions-per-hour — they may have lost the interest of those who would most benefit from it. An description of public buildings in every town with thousands upon thousands of categorized books would have done the trick.
As you, Nova, have said before, we need to find a compelling way to convey the dreams in our head — the ones that drive us, keep us up late at night, and get our heart racing — to those that will someday benefit from it.
This video takes a good step in that direction, and I see a continuing need to create even less-geeky presentations for the "man on the street."
Posted by: zeb hodge | January 15, 2008 at 08:44 AM