State of the Semantic Web: Know Where to Look

Overview

There is no question that the web is an unprecedented success. It is the single most adventurous and useful platform for information exchange ever conceived and built. The architectural choices that went into its design have lent it scalability, flexibility, and the ability to grow into new business models, application-level technologies, and varied uses. Currently, the web is designed for use by people; and not by software. Visitors to a site such as Amazon - that provides book and movie ratings, information about available used copies, related products, and so forth - can easily parse the content visually. It is much more difficult for software to act on a visitor's behalf, because the information is tied up in the presentation structure.