Broadband and Me

Context, Semantics and identity

Practical RDF: Semantic Web for Poets: FOAF, Flocking, and the Semantics of Starlings

Elegant rant (?) by Shelley (whom I don't know - read the article) about W3C, the Semantic web and FOAF.

The complexity of human relationships and how we may describe them in the context of the semantic web are examined. Perhaps more importantly the outline of how a virtual community (i.e. bloggers) are seeking to redefine tools to meet a need while the great and the good (W3C) argue about how it should be done. A clash between wanting to get on and exploit practical applications versus a theoretical purity (I exaggerate slightly to make the point).

Essentially semantics are about context. Therefore it is the context which provides meaning. Data on things, on people and presumably ideas can easily be held somewhere on the web e.g. INFP but until you then understand that its my Myers-Briggs classification, and can link to information about MB you won't understand what it refers to. Unless you can read something which outlines data about me, it doesn't mean anything and until you can give all of that some context i.e. the machine searching this out is doing so for an employment opportunity, do you (or does one?) get somewhere.

Even then do you know me? Knowing I have blue eyes or work for a UK cable company, does that help?

I don't know. Perhaps you have learnt that I trail off arguments...