Semantic Web: An Intro

I've been curious to learn more about the semantic web so I thought I'd write a post about it. I'll start at the beginning:

What is the semantic Web?

The World Wide Web Consortium made this great intro video that I would recommend watching.

If you don't have time, I'll give you the highlights.

Semantic Web:

When I think about the semantic Web, I think about artificial intelligence.

Okay, not that dramatic. Here goes though:

When we conduct search engine searches, we typically type in a phrase and the search engine uses a few key words from the phrase to generate millions of sites in a queue. Next, we have to search through millions of responses at a glance to determine which information is most pertinent.

For example: "The Thelma and Louise Movie"

A search engine, such as Google, would eliminate "the" and "and" in the search and display sites containing the words "Thelma" and "Louise" and "Movie."

Thus, some of the millions of results may include URLs to a restaurant called "Thelma's Diner" or a People Magazine article on: "Louise Smith:  Movie Actress," should such things exist.

Through a semantic Web search, we can type a phrase and the search engine understands the meaning of the phrase, as opposed to using a few Key words. In theory, the results would indicate links that included information on the Movie "Thelma and Louise."

In essence, a semantic Web search varies from our traditional searches in that a semantic Web search can identify the meaning of the phrase we type, and a traditional search only identifies what words we are trying to search.

Semantic Web search---> What are we actually trying to find?
Traditional Web search--> Where do the keywords of the search exist the most?

Image via Odyssey Art

Comments

[catherine mcquaid]

Hi Megan;
Great demystification!

Eye-friendly text that the reader appreciates while listening, since the tendancy is to open the video first because it is posted at the top.

Catherine McQuaid
http://www.huntnewbiz.com/