I got a message privately that made a point I might be confusing the semantic web with something else. (Probably something closer to what most designers know as "semantic markup.") It's a good point, so I figure I'd write my response to the list in case I am.
---------- > I think you must be thinking of something else, the issues you > raise have little/nothing to do with the foundation of the semantic > web: OWL representations of the concepts your site's content is > presenting to humans. I'm probably conflating issues and making certain leaps too early in what I wrote, but for the semantic web to occur in my understanding of the term, the data representation has to work to do more than simply present the data. It has to define he meaning of the data so more can be done with it. From: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm? id=00048144-10D2-1C70-84A9809EC588EF21&page=2 "The Semantic Web is not a separate Web but an extension of the current one, in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation. The first steps in weaving the Semantic Web into the structure of the existing Web are already under way. In the near future, these developments will usher in significant new functionality as machines become much better able to process and "understand" the data that they merely display at present." To give "information well-defined meaning" you are effectively tagging it, and to do so separate from the visual presentation can be a problem if you also use the markup to define its meaning for the purpose of letting the computer figure out what to do with it. For example: <h1>This is my title</h1> and <p class="mainheader">This is my title</p> Are two very different things. One is using the tag to define the type of information and could be used by the computer to do all sorts of behaviors with it, but requires all data of the type to be visually the same. The other is using CSS to simply style it, and dropping the class removes the style from the object itself. In order for the semantic web to work, web markup should follow the first method, not the second. (In my understanding.) And yet, to do complex content presentation in a web browser, example #2 is actually easier to control and allows the designer to make the content work better for the specific design case in question. So what we end up with is something more like this to try and solve both issues at the same time: <div class="article"> <h1>This is my title</h1> <p>This is my story ... </p> </div> And then use div.article h1 { style: properties go here; } In CSS to declare H1 styles and presentation strictly confined to content with article classes, while also giving the computer a means to use H1 for something useful outside of the presentation because it has special things it can do with content defined as H1. It's also nice because we can now use things like JQuery to create interaction using the class selectors in ways that I think model the intention of the "semantic web," and to use JQuery effectively, it requires cleaner markup that should be a "semantic" as possible to keep the Javascript workable. This kind of "semantic markup" approach to markup works to a degree, but it quickly gets messy once the content gets more complex and the presentation more complex. When that mess occurs, one usually has to toss out "semantic markup" to get the presentation and interaction correct. And in tossing out semantic markup, one also is impacting the semantic web. Again, in my understanding. I could easily be conflating these two issues when that's not necessary. I'll admit I know little about the backend data model representation that is being proposed for the semantic web or if there's going to be some new means of translating that meaning into usable markup for browser presentation (outside of all the XML tools that exist today), but if it's anything like what is happening currently, it's a hodgepodge and mashed up set of data mixing things semantically with things that are not. And when that happens, getting the job done wins, not getting the job done in a way that some future set of new features might do some useful things. So yes, I'm probably conflating and getting very far ahead of the issue and making all sorts of leaps that I passed over in my initial email, along with leaps that aren't correct, if I'm not confusing the issue in the first place. 8^) If I am, my apologies. -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
