Two years ago, real-world semantic applications on the Web were beginning to emerge in publishing, government, and science-based businesses (see Beginner's introduction to the Semantic Web). Now, my antennae are telling me that the concept is at a critical stage where soon it will have a significant impact on the bottom line. This article looks at five indicators that point in that direction and discusses key findings from four recent papers that address the role of semantics in improving services and leveraging intellectual assets.

Unlike Tim Berners-Lee's seminal article in 2001 — which laid out the Semantic Web vision — these documents look at the implementation of semantics in real world government and knowledge base publishing projects. At last, we can begin to sort out the practical management and technical issues and get a clearer idea of the role information professionals will play in the evolution of systems that incorporate the meaning of words.

For the convenience of readers, there are links to the meanings of words and phrases used here. Definitions and thesaurus terms retrieved through these links are themselves an application of semantic technology — in this case the Montague Institute's Knowledge Base.

Are we there yet?
Almost a decade has passed since the idea emerged of making the Internet "smarter" by adding semantics — i.e. meaning in a certain context. Or, to put it another way, only now are we beginning to grasp the complexities of how to transform such tools as thesauri, classification schemes, dictionaries, and A - Z topic indexes in a World Wide Web environment where they can be used by both computers and humans.

How to talk about these concepts continues to be a barrier. While almost every educated person knows how to use paper-based semantic tools, very few understand the philosophic and linguistic principles behind them — let alone the managerial, technical, and usability implications of applying them to content published on the World Wide Web. Those who do understand find it difficult to explain the need to decision makers in bottom line terms.

But we may finally be at a tipping point where economics, practical experience, and technical innovation converge to open the door to successful, large-scale applications. Five indicators point in that direction:

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Created on 2/20/2009 l Updated on April 27, 2009