# Knowledge Technology

![0_Image_0.Png](0_Image_0.Png) Fact Sheet Semantic Web

## What Is The Semantic Web?

"The Semantic Web is an extension of the current web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation"1. The key enabler of the Semantic Web is the need of many communities to put machine-understandable data on the Web which can be shared and processed by automated tools as well as by people. Machines should not just be able to display data, but rather be able to use it for automation, integration and reuse across various applications. 

The European Commission is funding numerous projects related to Ontologies and the Semantic Web; even more will be funded in its recently launched Sixth Framework Research Programme. The worldwide Semantic Web community is growing rather fast and forces are being joined with other technology developments such as Web Services or multimedia. Last, but not least, vendors are already offering mature products and solutions based on semantic technologies. Thus, the Semantic Web is currently moving from being a vision to becoming reality. 

## How Could The Semantic Web Look Like?

Even worse: "How would you explain the Semantic Web to your grandparents?" Answering this question is the challenge for participants of the Semantic Web Challenge2. Out of 10 participants the winners of the Challenge 2003 have been presented at the 2nd International Semantic Web Conference3. It might be questionable whether grandparents would understand the aim of the winning application, viz. that it "combines information from multiple heterogeneous sources, such as published RDF sources, personal web pages, and data bases in order to provide an integrated view of this multidimensional space"4. Nevertheless, it offers the flavour of current Semantic Web technologies. A very illustrative and at the same time amusing article gives a glimpse into the far future, viz. "August 2009: 
How Google beat Amazon and Ebay to the Semantic Web"5. 

## Why Is The Semantic Web Important?

To illustrate the potential importance of the Semantic Web we will start with some quotes from "important people and institutions". 

- "The way software and devices communicate today is doomed. To interoperate on the X Internet, they'll use decentralized data dictionaries based on emerging Semantic Web technologies." David Truog, *Forrester Report: "How the X Internet Will Communicate", December 2001*. 

- "While the industry is busy creating the underpinnings of open computing with standards like eXtensible Markup Language, still **missing are what Plattner calls 'semantic' standards**, or how to make different computers recognize data about a business partner, a customer, or an order and know what to do with it. In other words, said Plattner, the software industry is building an alphabet but hasn't yet invented a common language." 
Hasso Plattner, SAP, in CNet News, 27th of March, 2002. 

We will elaborate more on the mentioned issues in the following subsections. 