The "Tetherless" Web

1
The "Tetherless" Web

• Jim Hendler
• Head, Future of Information Project
• Tetherless World Constellation Chair
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

2
I was asked

• Current status of the use of wireless
  communication/information devices
• number of "wireless"campuses -- LOTS
• use of wireless devices in education, research
  collaboration -- LOTS
• Growth of the above in the next 3-5 years -- LOTS

LOTS the usual exponential curves
3
I was asked

• Future potential scenario(s) on how information
  will be accessed, used and shared
• This is the fun stuff!

4
"Wireless"?

• Wireless
• 802.11x - Internet addresses w/o cable
• Mobile
• Cell phone based Web access (GSM)
• Ubiquitous
• Computers (on Net/Web) embedded in devices (incl
  RFID tabs)
• Tetherless
• Information everywhere

5
Digital Convergence

• Everything on the Web
• "The future of the Web will evolve similarly to
  the technology of telling timeThe major issues
  that plague Web developers parallel the
  challenges that faced clockmakers between the
  Renaissance and the invention of the quartz
  crystalwith quartz crystal and digital
  technology changing the traditional industry from
  an extremely important, highly-skilled and
  lucrative trade into a dinosaur almost overnight.
  Web design is in a similar evolutionary stage
  today." (Digital Web Magazine, 5/04)
• Delivered anywhere
• On "the device formerly known as a cell phone"
  (BT VP, 5/06)

6
TetherlessWorld
7
Information Convergence

• Convergence not just in devices, also in
  information
• Your personal information (phone, PDA,)
  Calendar, photo, home page, files
• Your professional life (laptop, desktop,
  Grid) Web site, publications, files, databases,
  
• Your community contexts (Web) Hobbies, blogs,
  fanfic, social networks
• Raises issues
• How will we CREATE, SEARCH, and BROWSE in the
  non-text based parts of our lives?
• How will we control the personal (professional)
  information on the Web?

8
"Tetherless" issues being explored

• Maintaining features that make the Web work
• Avoiding the threats of fragmentation
• Differentiating the macro from the micro
• Incorporating semantics
• Exploiting statistics
• Build services
• Figuring out how to instill trust, resilience and
  dependability

9
Web Evolution
(Science, 6/06)
10
Beyond documents

• To Web of data
• Web 2.0
• Tagging
• Web 3.0
• "Smart search"
• Fix failures of tagging
• Great for social, bad for search (and other
  professional use)
• Semantic Web
• Data integration in the large
• Corporate Sem Web Gartner Hot pick of 2006
• Web OS
• The Web is your computer
• (based on Spivack, 07)

11
Atom (XML)
lt?xml version"1.0" encoding"utf-8"?gt ltfeed
version"0.3" xmlns"http//purl.org/atom/ns"gt
lttitlegtdive into marklt/titlegt ltlink
rel"alternate" type"text/html"
href"http//diveintomark.org/"/gt
ltmodifiedgt2003-12-13T183002Zlt/modifiedgt
ltauthorgt ltnamegtMark Pilgrimlt/namegt
lt/authorgt ltentrygt lttitlegtAtom 0.3
snapshotlt/titlegt ltlink rel"alternate"
type"text/html" href"http//diveintomark.o
rg/2003/12/13/atom03"/gt ltidgttagdiveintomark.o
rg,20033.2397lt/idgt ltissuedgt2003-12-13T08292
9-0400lt/issuedgt ltmodifiedgt2003-12-13T183002
Zlt/modifiedgt lt/entrygt lt/feedgt
Use XML in syndication
12
Adobe XMP (RDF-based)
ltrdfRDF xmlnsrdf"http//www.w3.org/1999/02/22-r
df-syntax-ns"gt ltrdfDescription
rdfabout"" xmlnspdf"http//ns.adobe.
com/pdf/1.3/"gt ltpdfProducergtAcrobat
Distiller 7.0.5 for Macintoshlt/pdfProducergt
lt/rdfDescriptiongt ltrdfDescription
rdfabout"" xmlnsdc"http//purl.org
/dc/elements/1.1/"gt ltdcformatgtapplicatio
n/pdflt/dcformatgt ltdccreatorgt
ltrdfSeqgt ltrdfligtJames
Hendlerlt/rdfligt lt/rdfSeqgt
lt/dccreatorgt ltdctitlegt
ltrdfAltgt ltrdfli
xmllang"x-default"gtXMLideas.pptlt/rdfligt
lt/rdfAltgt lt/dctitlegt
lt/rdfDescriptiongt ltrdfDescription
rdfabout"" xmlnsxapMM"http//ns.ad
obe.com/xap/1.0/mm/"gt ltxapMMDocumentIDgtu
uid93277c40-5534-11da-a3f2-000a95d6b344lt/xapMMDo
cumentIDgt ltxapMMInstanceIDgtuuid9327882b
-5534-11da-a3f2-000a95d6b344lt/xapMMInstanceIDgt
lt/rdfDescriptiongt lt/rdfRDFgt
Embed meta-data in PDF, etc.
13
FOAF (RDF(S))
ltrdfRDF xmlnsrdf"http//www.w3.org/1999/0
2/22-rdf-syntax-ns" xmlnsrdfs"http//www.
w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema"
xmlnsfoaf"http//xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"gt
ltfoafPersongt ltfoafnamegtJim
Hendlerlt/foafnamegt ltfoaftitlegtDrlt/foaftitle
gt ltfoaffirstNamegtJimlt/foaffirstNamegt
ltfoafsurnamegtHendlerlt/foafsurnamegt
ltfoafmbox_sha1sumgtbe972c7a602683f7cf3c7a1fd0949c5
65debe4d3 lt/foafmbox_sha1sumgt
ltfoafhomepage rdfresource"http//www.cs.umd.
edu/hendler"/gt ltfoafdepiction
rdfresource"http//www.semanticgrid.org/q-iantbl
jim.jpg"/gt ltfoafworkplaceHomepage
rdfresource"http//owl.mindswap.org"/gt lt/foafPe
rsongt lt/rdfRDFgt
Semantic Web Social Networking
14
FEA-RMO (OWL)
ltowlOntology rdfabout"file/C/Models/eGov/FEA
/all.owl"gt ltowlversionInfogtVersion
1.0lt/owlversionInfogt ltdccontributorgtDean
Allemang, TopQuadrantlt/dccontributorgt
ltdcdescriptiongtFEA Reference Model
Ontologylt/dcdescriptiongt ltowlimports
rdfresource"http//purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"/gt
ltdcsourcegtFEAPMOlt/dcsourcegt
ltdcsourcegtThe Performance Reference Model
Version 1.0, FEAPMOlt/dcsourcegt
ltdcdategtJanuary 2005lt/dcdategt
ltdccontributorgtIrene Polikoff,
TopQuadrantlt/dccontributorgt
ltdccontributorgtRalph Hodgson, TopQuadrantlt/dccon
tributorgt lt/owlOntologygt ltowlClass
rdfabout"http//www.osera.gov/owl/2004/11/fea/br
mSF_GeneralScienceAndInnovation"gt
ltowldisjointWithgt ltowlClass
rdfabout"http//www.osera.gov/owl/2004/11/fea/br
mSF_Heath"/gt lt/owldisjointWithgt
ltowldisjointWithgt ltowlClass
rdfabout"http//www.osera.gov/owl/2004/11/fea/br
mSF_IntelligenceOperations"/gt
lt/owldisjointWithgt
Application specific vocabulary (ontology)
definition
15
Richer metadata
Embedded meta-data
Data harvesting visualization
Enterprise data integration
New technologies
16
Web 3.0 Digital asset management
Low-cost Web portals
Info and social networking
Vocabulary editors (and other tools)
New applications
17
A web of content, not of documents

• Linking between documents and the
• databases that support them, and
• services that can manipulate that data,
• will allow news ideas like
• subscription based on content, not publication
• Im interested in subscribing to information
  about a particular cell sequence
• Not (just) the journal in which some of that
  information appeared
• Not (just) the article in which it was described
• Not (just) in my particular discipline
• repurposing content
• For different audiences
• On different devices

18
Document Repurposing

• Web page designers support content for multiple
  users
• Professionals needing specific access
• Outsiders needing guidance to materials
• School groups needing special presentation
• Etc.
• Takes a large investment
• Time
• Equipment
• Authoring
• Same material in different
• Languages
• Lexicons
• Grade-levels

19
Client-side Publishing
Fail to Score Table England PR D1 D2 D3
FC Scotland PL D1 D2 D3 Europe ESP FRA
GER ITA to 15-May-02 inclusive Team Pld
FTS FTS 1 Arsenal 38 0 0.0 2 Liverpool 38 4
10.5 3 Manchester United 38 6 15.78 Aston Villa
38 11 28.9
Why not let the web do that ??
20
Information Repurposing
Fail to Score Table England PR D1 D2 D3
FC Scotland PL D1 D2 D3 Europe ESP FRA
GER ITA to 15-May-02 inclusive Team Pld
FTS FTS 1 Arsenal 38 0 0.0 2 Liverpool 38 4
10.5 3 Manchester United 38 6 15.78 Aston Villa
38 11 28.9
Why not let the web do that ??
21
Will it happen?
Does this sound like a crazy science fiction
dream? A decade ago, who would have believed
that a web of text, conveyed by computer, would
challenge a 200-year-old tradition of academic
publishing -- Berners-Lee and
Hendler, Nature, 2001