W3C Semantic Web Activity

Description

W3C Semantic Web Activity

The Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. It is a collaborative effort led by W3C with participation from a large number of researchers and industrial partners. It is based on the Resource Description Framework ( RDF ). See also the separate FAQ for further information.

Introduction

The Semantic Web is a web of data. There is lots of data we all use every day, and it is not part of the web. I can see my bank statements on the web, and my photographs, and I can see my appointments in a calendar. But can I see my photos in a calendar to see what I was doing when I took them? Can I see bank statement lines in a calendar?

Why not? Because we don't have a web of data. Because data is controlled by applications, and each application keeps it to itself.

The Semantic Web is about two things. It is about common formats for integration and combination of data drawn from diverse sources, where on the original Web mainly concentrated on the interchange of documents. It is also about language for recording how the data relates to real world objects. That allows a person, or a machine, to start off in one database, and then move through an unending set of databases which are connected not by wires but by being about the same thing.

Specifications (Recommendations and Notes)

You may want to look at the collection of SW Case Studies and Use Cases to see how organizations are using these technologies today. The list of specifications is on a separate page for a better readability.

Publications / Articles / Interviews

The following is a partial list of various publications ...

Original URL

http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/

http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/