The Semantic Web

This 500-word essay was chosen as the best entry submitted for the prompt “Discuss a current trend/issue in the world and provide original personal insights on the impact it has on various other aspects of the society (economy, business, environment, psychology, etc)” as a part of the Jitheshraj Scholarship application 2019–2020.

Written by Shreyas K, NIT Trichy- class of 2023.

The World Wide Web has lots of information, but retrieving relevant information still depends on the skill of the user. One has to frame a search query, browse through the search results, and probably read a few web pages to obtain the required information. If the Internet were like a person, however, this process becomes much easier. After the user asks for a piece of information, Mr Internet can understand it, “think” if he knows the answer, and reply with only what the user wanted. This is, in a broad sense what the Semantic Web (or Web 3.0) can accomplish. In fact, the personal digital assistants like Siri and Google Assistant use this technology as a part of their systems to answer questions [1].

The idea of the Semantic Web is to make information on the Internet machine readable. Information is represented using databases called ontologies, which are a formalised representation of information. Everything in a semantic database is identified by a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier), similar to URLs. Webpages, documents, images, people, places — everything would be characterized by a URI, and these URIs can be related to one another. This information can be used to infer knowledge from the database, also called a knowledge base. It is this ability of Semantic Web technologies to integrate and interpret vast amounts of information which open up a wide array of applications for it.

One potential use of this technology is in education. Semantic knowledge bases can be used to power computational knowledge engines, like WolframAlpha. This technology can also be seen as an enabler of other artificial intelligence applications. AI chatbots can be hugely benefited both in terms of a better understanding of natural human conversation and presenting relevant information if backed by semantic technologies. This would enable the automation of services, like booking appointments. The power of semantic knowledge bases is already being harnessed in the fields of biological research and health care. It has been used for diagnosing organ failure [2], advancing clinical research [3], and advancing biomedical research [4].

The challenges to realising the Semantic Web to its fullest potential are mainly practical feasibility and concerns of data privacy and censorship. Constructing semantic databases has mostly been done manually through collaborative efforts of scientists and people. However, there is ongoing research on semi-automatic methods, such as CMU’s Read the Web Project. The same technology can be used to associate information with individuals, and hence raises concerns regarding anonymity. The EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) sets a good example of government policy which can help alleviate privacy concerns and hold companies more accountable for their actions. Some of the rights ensured to the users are the right to be forgotten, and the right to access the personal data stored [5]. Another concern is that governments may use such technology to control and censor information published online.

The Semantic Web is slowly taking the Internet to new heights, and we can be immensely benefitted from it.

References:

[1] Steve Kovach, “Google is going to win the next major battle in computing” — Business Insider India, 2016, October 5, accessed 18th March 2020, https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/google-is-going-to-win-the-next-major-battle-in-computing/articleshow/54686530.cms

[2] Robert Stanley et al., “Case Study: Applied Semantic Knowledgebase for Detection of Patients at Risk of Organ Failure through Immune Rejection” — W3C, 2011, 10th October, accessed 18th March 2020, https://www.w3.org/2001/sw/sweo/public/UseCases/IOInformatics/

[3] Chimezie Ogbuji et al., “Case Study: A Semantic Web Content Repository for Clinical Research” — W3C, 2007, October, accessed 18th March 2020, https://www.w3.org/2001/sw/sweo/public/UseCases/ClevelandClinic/

[4] Robert Hoehndorf et al., “The role of ontologies in biological and biomedical research: a functional perspective” — Briefings in Bioinformatics, 2015, November, pages: 1069–1080, accessed 18th March 2020, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4652617/

[5] Ben Wolford, “What is GDPR, the EU’s new data protection law?” — gdpr.eu, accessed 18th March 2020, https://gdpr.eu/what-is-gdpr/