Re: New Research Alert: The Fate of the Semantic Web

Hi Rachel,

+1 to your sentiments. Less talk, more follow-through.

On May 6, 2010, at 10:59 AM, rachel.flagg@gsa.gov wrote:

> 
> eGov group members, 
> I just read this new report from Pew (link below), and all the comments from survey respondents, and it got me thinking about our eGov group.  Lately the email conversations and conference calls within our group have been dominated with talk of linked data and the semantic web....and I think we are moving away from our core mission. 
> 
> I am wondering how the semantic web can, in a PRACTICAL way, really help us improve electronic government in the next few months of our Charter... especially given that the semantic web still seems to be, to a great extent, theoretical.  I am a big fan of practicality - and since our Charter has a time limit - if we are going to develop some serious, practical standards to help governments around the world improve their online service delivery... is the semantic web really the best way to get there? 
> 
> I welcome your thoughts on how we can get our group back on track, working toward our THREE areas of focus: 
> 
>  - Usage of Web Standards (Government Websites and use of best practices and standards) 
>  - Transparency and Participation (Enabling discovery, communications, and interaction) 
>  - Seamless Integration of Data (Use of data standards, Semantic Web, XML) 
> 
> Read the report: "The Fate of the Semantic Web" http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Semantic-Web/Overview.aspx?r=1 
> 
> Thanks!
> -Rachel
> -------------------------------
> Rachel Flagg 
> Forum Community Manager
>  & Co-Chair, Federal Web Managers Council 
> Government Web Best Practices Team
> Office of Citizen Services 
> U.S. General Services Administration 
> rachel.flagg@gsa.gov
> www.webcontent.gov - Better websites. Better government.
> 
> ----- Forwarded by Rachel L. Flagg/XCC/CO/GSA/GOV on 05/06/2010 07:38 AM ----- 
> 
> Pew Internet & American Life Project <info@pewinternet.org>
> 05/04/2010 01:50 PM
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> New Research Alert: The Fate of the Semantic Web
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> The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103361950871&s=4634&e=001fwsSaGi8rI1C07U3nV914c8F7gaCD3x2zxvGMM1prQfTvgnrxXNC_z5v1rH5xaUcbXD_I9vAaLpG75ibKzdX-ZqYBDTOJBHVgx338qiyZk2f4kLxVHRSTQ==]
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> The Pew Research Center's
> Internet & American Life Project
> 
> Report Alert
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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> 
> New Report: The Fate of the Semantic Web [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103361950871&s=4634&e=001fwsSaGi8rI35NY1_2-OqjWKENbU801OJ6j2rRgy-8cw7Y8Zu6xk-P5Axd1n23lR8lb_SjRKsldmlFTv0Ev9NOu42vh1aRZvMKvBftXpuvpd-HD6Dk8rmPxJkoVFSOEb7igoDcNykUeNulkjayvAolBIxUKlaILHH]
> By Janna Anderson, Lee Rainie 
> 
> [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103361950871&s=4634&e=001fwsSaGi8rI1W_X0fg6gEJzS4l7bg5ReW6gzAi4dV1Pe1Vy7lZMislUBeF4T3Blm3RhEVjkMkjsWybFKCHVBc7UtQl7QcNFLxehYRpCmc_uWEir9GrAC4TUvCcib1GX7nBFib4xI23nDChap61FI5bA==] 
> 
> May 4, 2010
> Technology experts and stakeholders who participated in a recent survey believe 
> online information will continue to be organized and made accessible in smarter 
> and more useful ways in coming years, but there is stark dispute about whether the
> improvements will match the visionary ideals of those who are working to build the
> semantic web [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103361950871&s=4634&e=001fwsSaGi8rI3IMB91g_98ODxZNcOCVM_4GG0TEW-SG41U7bqM1T7xFYYt8JUSH_Uoy4bd3508wXDq9D_mM0GTOew7x_ADCqVUz_MwSUXzh7jB_-TQpa3IzDmczmJ-7HIvYST2jacZaDaIhIXnGDIBYBqaW6R31kwj_zDYpGnnbLgttIOAd4vIiO9JqqxLRVo1LJimaGt0OVoNNgK1kniVGw==]. 
> 
> Some 895 experts responded to the invitation of the Pew Research Center's Internet
> & American Life Project and Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center to predict
> the likely progress toward achieving the goals of the semantic web by the year 2020. 
> 
> Asked to think about the likelihood that Berners-Lee and his allies will realize
> their vision, often called Web 3.0 [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103361950871&s=4634&e=001fwsSaGi8rI35NY1_2-OqjWKENbU801OJ6j2rRgy-8cw7Y8Zu6xk-P5Axd1n23lR8lb_SjRKsldmlFTv0Ev9NOu42vh1aRZvMKvBftXpuvpd-HD6Dk8rmPxJkoVFSOEb7igoDcNykUeNulkjayvAolBIxUKlaILHH],
> these technology experts and stakeholders were divided and often contentious.
> Some 47% agreed with the statement: 
> 
> "By 2020, the semantic web envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee will not be as fully effective
> as its creators hoped and average users will not have noticed much of a difference."
> Some 41% agreed with the opposite statement, which posited: 
> 
> "By 2020, the semantic web envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee and his allies will have
> been achieved to a significant degree and have clearly made a difference to average
> internet users." 
> 
> The web-based survey gathered opinions from prominent scientists, business leaders,
> consultants, writers and technology developers. It is the fourth in a series of 
> Internet expert studies [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103361950871&s=4634&e=001fwsSaGi8rI351yrh91tYPRKXTWIJ2XWKZkOwP0puGgJTp-vcHhqCFXzdetSXN9eiwKz1G7JwnSl3RFlwUgbbZWcnoEG-fz1r7TZQCTIp7-XMTNdlpZUrzNkUHpR0G-cstrM8EY9CGx8isZkdDy2Re9UlKP_IwEWN]
> conducted by the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University and the Pew Research
> Center's Internet & American Life Project. 
> 
> Read more: http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Impact-of-the-Internet-on-Institutions-in-the-Future.aspx
> [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103361950871&s=4634&e=001fwsSaGi8rI35NY1_2-OqjWKENbU801OJ6j2rRgy-8cw7Y8Zu6xk-P5Axd1n23lR8lb_SjRKsldmlFTv0Ev9NOu42vh1aRZvMKvBftXpuvpd-HD6Dk8rmPxJkoVFSOEb7igoDcNykUeNulkjayvAolBIxUKlaILHH]
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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> 
> Imagining the Internet - Elon University [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103361950871&s=4634&e=001fwsSaGi8rI1ttZCdCPoRHSdp-YH-LfXFrWnuQs600TG0rxTmHnKVyhTJ0DBvBeUXeqrWWtEScGsRIafEruj7BL0gSvDDo9lfzRb4ek4bKNp1TE2JFwEP-_8c0GJ0iVALwCg6KTbxz3_hdFg6zQHk5rYhXw7y3z6EXz1rl0uoK4_pgMLu2dpPl4bZb-2bHs4UZqI1ImFke1HU_GJaevfmzA==]
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> This publication is part of a Pew Research Center series that captures people's 
> expectations for the future of the Internet, in the process presenting a snapshot
> of current attitudes.
> Find out more at: http://pewinternet.org/topics/Future-of-the-internet.aspx [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103361950871&s=4634&e=001fwsSaGi8rI29c1DDeG2rOCEjOayUsX78512BWm4XhHS_6dAafH1IvBhPc-0kz-K9EvSmtDhYfz1dBL_7G6mJDtyazKDJ8_L0q8j1VLcTcT8_PJKTYyXUwmfTcvaMM2hTjlgLqZtVW5Fhte6NbkFDKyanZWNpr3q9]
> and http://imaginingtheinternet.org [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103361950871&s=4634&e=001fwsSaGi8rI3AvLZlUbwRuWiyL4j0RgY1nXOO4SbNQPeGClr6DQV82BfV8_QZIQkGePElFec3_bfRQ1KzizAgnDAv48G90CHQ2n6U2DP81OQQwPEqiqnIlUdgTqC6zm9O].
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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> 
> About the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project
> The Pew Internet Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit
> "fact tank"that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping
> America and the world. Pew Internet explores the impact of the internet on children,
> families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political 
> life.  Support for the project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.  The Project's
> website is: http://www.pewinternet.org [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103361950871&s=4634&e=001fwsSaGi8rI3ektOrz-EL3-2HAktoA4Ab8bJdhlYJp8IHQUHoLNs1dLfSaW6agZK1lMlGWmXlfjXa3foL_dzRS6RpyToRaluymcIoOTiLmD7CLMoj7hWMFg==].
> 
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