Comments on: Sometimes It's Just Semantics

By: The New Now: How Real Time Redefines the Now

The New Now: How Real Time Redefines the Now — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:30:57 +0000

[...] (now called Dice.com), and over the years have kept in touch with him. I followed the birth and fall of Radar Networks, the company behind Twine. He is now the co-founder of LiveMatrix, a directory of live events on [...]

By: PeoplePad Keeping Mum on Semantic Plans - GigaOM

PeoplePad Keeping Mum on Semantic Plans - GigaOM — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:08:07 +0000

[...] is better for machines. If it’s easier for people to enter short amounts of data, its also easier for machines to read that data using properties of the semantic [...]

By: Nodalities » Blog Archive » This Week’s Semantic Web

Nodalities » Blog Archive » This Week’s Semantic Web — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:30:47 +0000

[...] Sometimes It’s Just Semantics [...]

By: Cogblog » Blog Archive » Google Open Social seems to open suck

Cogblog » Blog Archive » Google Open Social seems to open suck — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:57:37 +0000

[...] has gotten a ton of coverage for rolling out their Social Graph API. (No link to the original Google post because blogger [...]

By: rona

rona — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:05:54 +0000

@ Stacey "How will coded tags be able to follow the intricacies of human relationships as fights ensue, jobs shift and even names change?"

You answered that yourself. You just have to look at it a little different. "But not all companies working on helping machines figure out the relationships and categories that most humans have learned use that standard."

Humans learn. There is no reason why a machine can't do that.

We can for example teach the concepts of "all" or "mean"(meaning "being mean" or "by mean I mean xyz"). Following changing relationships over time is really the easy part.

Oh and I think the [Ss]emantic [Ww]eb is really so 20th century. Why should I define something a machine can learn all by itself.

By: alexiskold

alexiskold — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:34:20 +0000

Stacey,

BlueOrganizer has been on a market for 1.5 years. We just launched a new version, called Indigo, which features recognition of things in pages, links and text.

The key question to me is what exactly is it that semantics helps you do better. For a long time, people thought it would be search, but we no longer think that search is a killer app.

Semantics helps you understand user context and shortcut search all together.

Alex

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:02:42 +0000

The final sentence in your article said:

"...with an automated agent. While both are helpful, sometimes you need a real, live human being."

ChaCha has real live human beings answering questions right now. I have had so-so experiences with questions on their web site. But I tried their mobile text service about a month ago and have been using it ever since. It's great that all these companies are working out semantics schemas but will they ever be as good a human beings...probably not. The big question is can ChaCha make it work financially with people. Don't know, but maybe. I have 242242 as a contact on my phone because the human at the other end answers my question with no computer ambiguity.

By: Stacey Higginbotham

Stacey Higginbotham — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:58:27 +0000

Deepak, I like your thoughts, and assume the people finding people is the common example because it's easy to understand. Folks have explained the semantic web as the next generation of the back end of the Internet, but when trying to figure out what this means, I'm always given the relationships example. I'd love more examples, so please fire away.

By: Tom Heath

Tom Heath — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:06:23 +0000

@Alan Wilensky: how about all the thousands of experienced computer scientists who have so far contributed to the development of the standards that underpin the Semantic Web, and the tools that implement these standards? Blood, sweat and tears may have been shed along the way, but I don’t see anyone crying now as the Semantic Web gets ready for the big time. Perceiving the Semantic Web as a top-down approach is one of the oldest and clumsiest misconceptions. You might want to have a read of http://www.getsemantic.com/wiki/Arguments_against_the_Semantic_Web#Top-down_Ontologies_and_consistent_Worldviews

By: Lou Covey

Lou Covey — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:36:09 +0000

The mechanism of the semantic web is fascinating, and for scholastic work it could be a great research boon, but until people learn how to communicate effectively, the semantic web is going to be useless for the masses. As the news media continues to shrink and commercial communication is, more and more, turned over to people who speak in cliches, the semantic web will be of no help.

A new car is wonderful, but you still have to have a qualified driver to make it go.