Semantic Web

The Semantic Web, sometimes known as Web 3.0 (not to be confused with Web3), is an extension of the World Wide Web through standards^[1] set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The goal of the Semantic Web is to make Internet data machine-readable.

To enable the encoding of semantics with the data, technologies such as Resource Description Framework (RDF)^[2] and Web Ontology Language (OWL)^[3] are used. These technologies are used to formally represent metadata. For example, ontology can describe concepts, relationships between entities, and categories of things. These embedded semantics offer significant advantages such as reasoning over data and operating with heterogeneous data sources.^[4]

These standards promote common data formats and exchange protocols on the Web, fundamentally the RDF. According to the W3C, "The Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries."^[5] The Semantic Web is therefore regarded as an integrator across different content and information applications and systems.

The term was coined by Tim Berners-Lee for a web of data (or data web)^[6] that can be processed by machines^[7]—that is, one in which much of the meaning is machine-readable. While its critics have questioned its feasibility, proponents argue that applications in library and information science, industry, biology and human sciences research have already proven the validity of the original concept.^[8]

Berners-Lee originally expressed his vision of the Semantic Web in 1999 as follows:

I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web – the content, links, and transactions between people and computers. A "Semantic Web", which makes this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy and our daily lives will be handled by machines talking to machines. The "intelligent agents" people have touted for ages will finally materialize.^[9]

The 2001 Scientific American article by Berners-Lee, Hendler, and Lassila described an expected evolution of the existing Web to a Semantic Web.^[10] In 2006, Berners-Lee and colleagues stated that: "This simple idea…remains largely unrealized".^[11] In 2013, more than four million Web domains (out of roughly 250 million total) contained Semantic Web markup.^[12]

^ Semantic Web at W3C: https://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/
^ "World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), "RDF/XML Syntax Specification (Revised)", 25 Feb. 2014".
^ "World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), "OWL Web Ontology Language Overview", W3C Recommendation, 10 Feb. 2004".
^ Chung, Seung-Hwa (2018). "The MOUSE approach: Mapping Ontologies using UML for System Engineers". Computer Reviews Journal: 8–29. ISSN 2581-6640.
^ Cite error: The named reference W3C-SWA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Q&A with Tim Berners-Lee, Special Report". Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
^ Cite error: The named reference Berners-Lee was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Lee Feigenbaum (May 1, 2007). "The Semantic Web in Action". Scientific American. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
^ Berners-Lee, Tim; Fischetti, Mark (1999). Weaving the Web. HarperSanFrancisco. chapter 12. ISBN 978-0-06-251587-2.
^ Berners-Lee, Tim; Hendler, James; Lassila, Ora (May 17, 2001). "The Semantic Web" (PDF). Scientific American. Vol. 284, no. 5. pp. 34–43. JSTOR 26059207. S2CID 56818714. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 10, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2008.
^ Nigel Shadbolt; Wendy Hall; Tim Berners-Lee (2006). "The Semantic Web Revisited" (PDF). IEEE Intelligent Systems. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 20, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2007.
^ Ramanathan V. Guha (2013). "Light at the End of the Tunnel". International Semantic Web Conference 2013 Keynote. Retrieved March 8, 2015.

[1] Semantic Web at W3C: https://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/

[2] "World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), "RDF/XML Syntax Specification (Revised)", 25 Feb. 2014".

[3] "World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), "OWL Web Ontology Language Overview", W3C Recommendation, 10 Feb. 2004".

[4] Chung, Seung-Hwa (2018). "The MOUSE approach: Mapping Ontologies using UML for System Engineers". Computer Reviews Journal: 8–29. ISSN 2581-6640.

[W3C-SWA-5] Cite error: The named reference W3C-SWA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[6] "Q&A with Tim Berners-Lee, Special Report". Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 April 2018.

[Berners-Lee-7] Cite error: The named reference Berners-Lee was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[8] Lee Feigenbaum (May 1, 2007). "The Semantic Web in Action". Scientific American. Retrieved February 24, 2010.

[9] Berners-Lee, Tim; Fischetti, Mark (1999). Weaving the Web. HarperSanFrancisco. chapter 12. ISBN 978-0-06-251587-2.

[10] Berners-Lee, Tim; Hendler, James; Lassila, Ora (May 17, 2001). "The Semantic Web" (PDF). Scientific American. Vol. 284, no. 5. pp. 34–43. JSTOR 26059207. S2CID 56818714. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 10, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2008.

[11] Nigel Shadbolt; Wendy Hall; Tim Berners-Lee (2006). "The Semantic Web Revisited" (PDF). IEEE Intelligent Systems. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 20, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2007.

[12] Ramanathan V. Guha (2013). "Light at the End of the Tunnel". International Semantic Web Conference 2013 Keynote. Retrieved March 8, 2015.

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