Sunday, April 27, 2008
Killer Apps and the Semantic Web
Regarding the killer app for the semantic web – I think that it's a mistake to look for one. The semantic web is a 'foundational' technology – a building block. It is highly generative, but doesn't provide much value until something is built with it. The layperson will look at and ask “What use is it?” - a sentiment that I heard expressed in reference to both personal computers and the Internet in their early days.
I hope that a killer semantic app doesn't emerge. If one does, that app will dictate the style and flavour of the first generation of semantic web applications. One huge success will spawn hundreds of imitators, but they will only be imitators. Only after those imitators fail (and/or coalesce) will other ways of using semantic web technology be considered (a pattern that I've seen repeated many times).
Rather than a single 'killer app', the semantic web first needs to permeate existing applications and systems. This will form a primordial ooze of rdf data that will allow a 'semantic ecosystem' to emerge. The value promised by the semantic web is predicated by a mass of available semantic data. If that mass of data doesn't appear, or if access to it is tightly controlled by restrictive policies, the semantic web will be hamstrung and won't likely have much of an impact. Fortunately the age of openness is upon us and the exponential value of open api's and data is readily apparent, so I don't think that this will be a problem.
Labels: semantic web
