Re: What Happened to the Semantic Web?

On 12 November 2015 at 12:45, Nicolas Chauvat <nicolas.chauvat@logilab.fr>
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> On Wed, Nov 11, 2015 at 02:27:10PM -0500, Kingsley Idehen wrote:
> > > To me, The Semantic Web is like Google, but then run on my machine.
> >
> > To me its just a Web of Data [...]
>
> Ruben says "The Semantic Web" and Kingsley answers "just a Web of Data".
>
> In my tutorial "introduction to the semantic web" last week at
> SemWeb.Pro, I presented the Semantic Web and the Web of Data as the
> same thing.
>
> Then Fabien Gandon from Inria summarized the first session of the MOOC
> "Le Web Sémantique" and distinguished two items in a couple
> (web of data ; semantic web).
>
> It made me think that splitting the thing in two after the fact might
> have benefits:
>
> - Web of Data = what works today = 1st deliverable of the SemWeb Project
>

This is an interesting take.  I really like the way Dan C framed things
years ago:

"The important word in Semantic Web is 'Web'"

IMHO, the "web of data" is a side effect of the "semantic web" project,
which is a side effect of the "web" project.  ie to allow anything to be
connected to anything, with a boostrap via the web of documents.

Is the web of data the first deliverable of the SemWeb project, I think you
could view it that way.

One other important aspect from "Weaving the Web".  And that is that the
web is "more a social invention than a technical one".  Opinions may vary,
but I dont think the web of data as it is today, *on it's own*, qualifies
enough as social to be really a first class deliverable.

However if you combine the web of data, with thinks like Solid, I think we
are there.  Now it's time to start using it, and gaining market share.


>
> - Semantic Web = what will work = prov, trust, inference, smartclient, etc.
>

These strike me as more tactical, and will become increasingly useful tools
over time.


>
> It allows us to say that The Semantic Web Project *has*delivered* its
> version 1, nicknamed "Web of Data", and that more versions will follow.
>
> [Hopefully in a couple years the "Web of Data" will have completely
> merged with the One True Web and nobody will care about making a
> distinction any more]
>
> That way of putting things fits well with the iterative/agile/lean
> culture of project management that is now spreading all over.
>
> Do you know of people that have been trying to sell things this way?
>

I like the sense of this argument, in that it's a continuum, with milestone
achieved on the way.  I suppose different people will focus on different
markers.  But that's as it should be, more important is that what's
delivered is designed to interoperate.


>
> --
> Nicolas Chauvat
>
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