Semantic web, semantic ...

[kgun]

There is an increasing talk about semantics in different settings.

"Semantics (Greek sēmantikos, giving signs, significant, symptomatic, from sēma (σῆμα), sign) refers to aspects of meaning, as expressed in language or other systems of signs. Semantics contrasts with syntax, which is the study of the structure of sign systems (focusing on the form, not meaning). Related to semantics is the field of pragmatics, which studies the practical use of signs by agents or communities of interpretation within particular circumstances and contexts. By the usual convention that calls a study or a theory by the name of its subject matter, semantics may also denote the theoretical study of meaning in systems of signs".

Much of this information flow is related to the Semantic Web

"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."

and the standard set by the World Wide Web Consortium, W3C. Sir Timothy Berners-Lee that is the director of this consortium also tries to create a science of the web.

This was not so difficult under the traditional model based on HTML, Http and URL's. With the introduction of the XML family of technologies, the concept of a semantic web explodes. We can talk of semanitc markup, semantic linking (with XLink), semantic formatting (with XSL) etc. etc.

URL's and URN's are also generalised to URI's and IRI's.

The most important web browsers already pareses XML so we can now talk of XML browsers. You will see it if you upgrade to the latest version of e.g. FF, IE and Opera. If you load an URL that ends, in (an) XML (documnet), there is a difference from what you saw half a year ago. Then you saw a raw XML source document, like SE bots see a HTML document. Today, you see a parsed document.

The concequences for Web Masters that will be up to date is fairly dramitic, since the simple model of web 1.0 is replaced by a complex and larger model that is also much more flexible.

Conclusion:
Semanitcs in every meaning of the word is becoming more important and difficult as the new standard of the web emerges. This will require additional resources for web masters that want to be up to date, but also great opportunities.

Related WPW threads:
The XML family of technologies will revolutionize web linking etc.

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SEO content / links: XML driven sites, Web 1 and Web 2.