The light at the end of the tunnel never seemed to get any closer where the Semantic Web is concerned. For ten or more years it has been a promising idea, destined to solve our information overload problems.
I’ve talked briefly before about some of the technologies behind the Semantic Web. Recently I attended a meeting in Toronto which featured some of the bright minds in semantic technology: people who are not just theorizing about it, but actually making businesses around it. I was encouraged by the diversity of ideas that people are pursuing — all with the intention of reducing information overload. Some go beyond that altruistic goal and are trying to determine ways to monetize content, meta-content, or content analysis.
I believe the Semantic Web and its attendant technologies still have great potential. But, as Greg Boutin theorized at the meeting, the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. The mere deployment of more semantically rich tagging will probably result in more rather than less information to consume. Nirvana will only be reached when the applications exist to take advantage of all that extra information about the content we’re consuming.
At least that light at the end of the tunnel seems a little closer now (and no — it is not an oncoming train).