Tim Berners-Lee: Google could be superseded by the semantic Web

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Tim Berners-Lee: Google could be superseded by the semantic Web

Posted by Dan Farber

Via CNET News.com

The inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, isn't satisfied living on his past laurels. At every opportunity he talks up the semantic Web, which he calls the "Web of the future."

In a recent article in the Times Online, he said that what Google has done so far pales in comparison with what the semantic Web will bring. Social -networking leaders Facebook and MySpace will eventually be trumped by networks that connect all types of things, not just people, he said. To be clear, he wasn't saying that Google is doomed.

In the Times Online article, Berners-Lee gave an example of how the semantic Web would work:

"Imagine if two completely separate things--your bank statements and your calendar--spoke the same language and could share information with one another. You could drag one on top of the other and a whole bunch of dots would appear showing you when you spent your money."

"If you still weren't sure of where you were when you made a particular transaction, you could then drag your photo album on top of the calendar, and be reminded that you used your credit card at the same time you were taking pictures of your kids at a theme park. So you would know not to claim it as a tax deduction."

Google's technology and approach to parsing the Web is based on statistical analysis of incredibly vast amounts of data. The semantic Web involves creating a layer of metadata that enables rich connections between any type or piece of data.

In 2006, Peter Norvig, Google's director of research, noted some challenges to building a semantic Web, such as creating the metadata, agreeing on standards, and gaming the system.

"We deal with millions of Web masters who can't configure a server, can't write HTML. It's hard for them to go to the next step. The second problem is competition. Some commercial providers say, 'I'm the leader. Why should I standardize?' The third problem is one of deception. We deal every day with people who try to rank higher in the results and then try to sell someone Viagra when that's not what they are looking for. With less human oversight with the Semantic Web, we are worried about it being easier to be deceptive."

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