The Semantic Web

1
The Semantic Web

• Is it The Web guys shortcut to A.I.?
• Or more? Or less?

2
The Semantic Web for Dummies (like me)

• XML Customized tags, like
• ltdoggtNenalt/doggt
• RDF Relations, in triples, like
• (Nena) (is_dog_of) (Kimiko/Stefan)
• Ontologies Hierarchies of concepts, like
• mammal -gt canine -gt Cotton de Tulear -gt
  Nena
• Inference rules Like
• If (person) (owns) (dog), then (person)
  (cares_for) (dog)
• Semantic Web!

3
Semantic Web and Commonsense Reasoning
Cyc, Openmind, etc.
Semantic Web
Query
Web

• Query

Web
4
Interesting quotes

• Knowledge representation () is clearly a good
  idea, and some very nice demonstrations exist,
  but it has not yet changed the world. (SciAm)
• Meaning Of course the Semantic Web will do that.
  Will it?

5
Interesting quotes, cont.

• The Semantic Web will break out of the virtual
  realm and extend into our our physical world.
  (SciAm)
• Virtual reality will take over physical reality?
  (Why does that remind me of something very old?)

6
Interesting quotes, cont.

• URIs can point to anything, including physical
  entities () (SciAm)
• Is a unique ID for people socially acceptable?
• Where does that end? Would we like that each atom
  of our universe has a URI?

7
Interesting quotes, cont.

• The Semantic Web can assist the evolution of
  human knowledge as a whole. (SciAm)
• How so?
• Do you buy it?

8
Summary The 6 Principles

• Everything can be identified by URIs
• Resources and links can have types
• Partial information is tolerated
• There is no need for absolute truth
• Evolution is supported
• Minimalist design