https://blog.speculist.com/fastforward_radio/fastforward-rad-85.html Live to see it. Thu, 16 Dec 2021 08:21:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 https://blog.speculist.com/fastforward_radio/fastforward-rad-85.html#comment-9795 Leslie Kirschner Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:24:25 +0000 http://localhost/specblog/?p=1834#comment-9795 Just a comment on the semantic web (and yes, it has been “coming soon” for a long time, but it’s a really big job): the promise of the semantic web is not what it can find for you–as you pointed out, you can do OK with well targeted searches today–but what it can DO with what it finds. A common “language” for data elements between sites across the web is what will put the data into context, and allow us to have smart software “agents” that can both search and act on our behalf. As a simple example, your agent can book an appointment with your doctor using your calendar, the doctor’s website, and maybe some other web resources related to health records or insurance and payments. Or book a trip for you, from soup to nuts, based on your preferences, without you having to wade through all those sites to do it yourself. Obviously there will be many more sophisticated applications (and many that we can’t even foresee yet) that will arise once this common understanding is in place. So, when it finally does happen, I think it will be a big breakthrough, but it is one of those things that has to reach critical mass before it becomes really useful.

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