Which semantic web?
- 26 August 2003
- proceedings article
- Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
- Vol. 1, 57-66
- https://doi.org/10.1145/900051.900063
Abstract
Through scenarios in the popular press and technical papers in the research literature, the promise of the Semantic Web has raised a number of different expectations. These expectations can be traced to three different perspectives on the Semantic Web. The Semantic Web is portrayed as: (1) a universal library, to be readily accessed and used by humans in a variety of information use contexts; (2) the backdrop for the work of computational agents completing sophisticated activities on behalf of their human counterparts; and (3) a method for federating particular knowledge bases and databases to perform anticipated tasks for humans and their agents. Each of these perspectives has both theoretical and pragmatic entailments, and a wealth of past experiences to guide and temper our expectations. In this paper, we examine all three perspectives from rhetorical, theoretical, and pragmatic viewpoints with an eye toward possible outcomes as Semantic Web efforts move forward.Keywords
This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
- Facilitated hypertext for collective sensemakingPublished by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) ,2001
- The Semantic WebScientific American, 2001
- Hypertext in the semantic webPublished by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) ,2001
- Formality Considered Harmful: Experiences, Emerging Themes, and Directions on the Use of Formal Representations in Interactive SystemsComputer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 1999
- Steps Toward an Ecology of Infrastructure: Design and Access for Large Information SpacesInformation Systems Research, 1996
- CYCCommunications of the ACM, 1995
- Spatial hypertextCommunications of the ACM, 1995
- Designing hypertext support for computational applicationsCommunications of the ACM, 1995
- Reflections on NoteCards: seven issues for the next generation of hypermedia systemsCommunications of the ACM, 1988
- Why CSCW applications fail: problems in the design and evaluationof organizational interfacesPublished by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) ,1988