So I brought up the "Shirky shitting the Semantic Web" article with Joe, being aware of our somewhat differing opinions on the issue.
So Joe said, "There are really 3 things here: RDF/XML the syntax, RDF the data model, and The SemWeb as a vision. Find problems with any one of the three and most of the time the response [from SemWeb people] is, no don't look at that part, what I'm really talking about is (fill in the blank with one of the other two pieces)."
And he's right of course. The problem is, there exists differing parts to the Semantic Web vision, and it's easy to get them mixed up where they in fact are separate issues. Take for example, you can very well talk about the Atom model as separate from its syndication format; you can argue about the usefulness of actually having an Atom model, without necessarily discussing about which XML tags a feedreader should handle.
For some reason, this separation is beyond those who continually argue about the Semantic Web. In part, it has to do with SemWeb evangelists — perhaps, forced into a position whereby they have to justify what they do, they oversimplify the model for those who expect to understand it as fast as one flicks a lightswitch. Hell, I don't claim to understand the full vision, but it doesn't take much to see though cheap shots like Clay Shirky's — by the way, it'd sure help his Web server stats, wouldn't it? Honestly, tell me that back in 1927 when Philo T. Farnsworth demonstrated the transmission of an electrical image by bouncing electrons around in a tube, everyone understood what he was really doing, and that they could foresee the impact his strange invention would have.
Tim Bray has written a most wise commentary in response. It's early days. The need for something more effective than what we've got exists. What the words "Semantic Web" conjure now might be quite different later, given a little time.
The "humans-will-never-use-this" argument can go straight into the trash can. If the cathode ray tube was never invented, did you think you would be going home to watch TV?
Posted by sniffles at November 10, 2003 04:43 PM