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Lecture Notes in Computer Science:The Semantic Web: Are we there yet?
Roushdat Elaheebocus
School Of Electronics and Computer ScienceUniversity of Southampton, UKre1e08@soton.ac.uk 
Abstract.
In this paper, we have taken a look at the use of semantics applied tothe context of hypertext before the web became widespread. Also we coveredthe main visions of the semantic web pioneers. We end up with an analysisabout the current situation of the semantic web;To what extent the goals havebeen achieved and the challenges we are facing.
Keywords:
semantic web, hypertext, current state, challenges
1 Introduction
In the context of hypertext, the W3C [1] defines the semantic web as providing "acommon framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application,enterprise, and community boundaries. And is "based on the Resource DescriptionFramework" to enable not only humans but also machines to understand contentsavailable from different online sources cooperating with one another [2]. It has beenproposed by Tim Bernes Lee [3]as an extension of the Web which is itself, one thatlinks documents whereas the former links data [4].
2 Early uses of semantics in pre-web hypertext
Semantics have been the subject of research much before the web was invented. Asfrom the year 1987, Frank G. Halasz et Al [5] proposed the idea of interlinkingelectronic cards NoteCards creating a semantic network. Developed at Xerox PARC,it has been a famous hypertext system mainly because of its extensive documentationby the researchers.
 
In 1993, D.H Jonassen and Sh.Wang
[6]
carried out experiments on mappingexpert knowledge structure onto hypertext which results into some kind of structurethat can then be inter-linked with other networks, therefore forming a semanticnetwork.H. P. Frei and D. Stieger
[7]
have used to use the relationship of semantic linksbetween nodes to implement retrieval algorithms capable of extracting relevantinformation from large collection of data stored in the form of hypertext orhypermedia. All these works have definitely contributed towards the envisioning of the extension of the Web with semantics which we know today as the Semantic Webor Web 3.0.
3Visions of the Semantic Web
The main objective behind this Semantic Web initiative is to solve the problem of information overload that we are facing by adding intelligence to the web [8]. Someyears back, a temporary remedy was found: Search Engines. However as the amountof information being made available online keeps growing, conventional searchengines are unable to cope since they rely on keywords without knowledge about themeanings of the information they crawl through. Hence, to provide informationconsumers with the most relevant data, the Semantic Web which deals with meaningsand relationships can help.Web Services that have already become widespread on the Internet these days arepredicted to become even smarter allowing users to 'discover' them dynamically andselect the most appropriate one given a set of parameters and also compose newservices on the fly through the combination of two or more existent services [9].The pioneers of the Semantic Web envisions it as a virtual field of information withagents working their way around, picking up what their masters require. These agentsare described as being intelligent enough to make decisions, learn from theirexperiences and coordinate their actions among other agents [3, 10].Researchers have even proposed an extension to the semantic web which they calledthe Conceptual Web [11]. Built on top of the Semantic Web, this extension will addthe capability of making information available to users in an appropriate form and canbe achieved through the use of “UML and a technique called conceptual browsing".
4Where we stand today and challenges that we face
According to Jorge Cardoso in his survey of entitled "The Semantic Web Vision:Where Are We?" [12], developers of the Semantic Web have opted for two maintechnologies to represent knowledge namely; OWL and RDF Schema, the formerbeing more popular than the latter. Also 70% of the survey participants planned torelease real-world system within two years (2008) which means that by now we
 
already have numerous semantic web systems in operation although most run in thebackground. One example will be the mobile phone company Vodaphone that hasadopted the use of semantics to enhance user experience in terms of searches on itswebsite.A simple way of adding meaning to data has been started to be used in Web 2.0 inthe form of metadata called tags. Through time, tagging has been improved and wenow have collaborative tagging whereby users can add tags, considerably alleviatingthe burden from content providers and also enhancing metadata in terms of quantityand quality. However, this can be considered as a double-edged sword since allowinganybody to add tags introduces the risk that some people with malicious objective canadd completely irrelevant and misleading tags. We can refer to this as "dirty-tagging"which in fact, effectively suppress the usefulness of tags. The Semantic Web hasmade it possible to get around this problem by introducing the concept of automatedsemantic tagging [13] and tags can thus be automatically generated from data.However the use of automated tagging has not been widespread so far. One examplewill be Twine [14] which uses algorithms to generate tags.E-Commerce sites have morphed from mere conversion of real-to-virtualconversions to rather sophisticated shops of their own with a lot of enhancementthanks to technologies brought forward by web 2.0 such as XML. What we have notseen though is automated match-making for buyer-seller service. Research inapplying semantic web technologies to help in this context is ongoing. For example,David Trastour et al's work on building an automated matchmaking and negotiationservice for e-commerce [15]. Applying David's research which seems to becentralised to Tim's concept of agents [3], we can obtain independent and robustagents.Empowering users has been a goal of both Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web. WhileWeb 2.0 has achieved part of it through community-based aspects such ascommenting, rating and collaborative applications, Semantic Web pushes the limiteven further by giving users more control over the content presentation. This concepthas been proposed in the form of a semantic browser [16, 17] and relies on the factthat users have direct access and control over the data in their client thus allowingthem to manipulate it. Currently, technologies such as mashups, introduced in Web2.0 can be said to be doing part of the job by enabling the integration of data fromdifferent sources into a single applications through the use of RSS feeds. One goodexample of this technology being used is Yahoo Pipes [18].Social Networking sites such as Orkut, Hi5 and Facebook appeared on the webaround year 2002 and have been considered as Web 2.0 products. However these sitesare now embracing the semantic web by using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) to publish their members' profile [19]. Although few tools exist to make use of these semantic data, they will be in then near-future.The success of the World Wide Web has been primarily due to its simplicity andtherefore has been more readily embraced by the online community [20].And for theSemantic web to be similarly accepted and become as successful as the Web,according to Brian McBride's view [21], it needs to1. "emphasize practical applications" whereby different stake holders can clearlysee the benefit of such technologies in areas such as business applications and
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