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Semantic Web
Introduction Semantic web as defined by the creator of the web Tim Berners-Lee is "a web of data, in some ways like a global database" (Berners-Lee, 1998). To elaborate further Mr. Berners-Lee explains in an interview held by IDG Now, data is expressed on computers as associated files with applications that deal specifically with information, an example would be, data in calendars, bank systems, spreadsheets, and database application. Looking at a web page, data is not clearly defined and not associated with any of the applications usually on computers. Semantic web will allow data to interact and connect together; it will bring on a common data format for all applications, for databases and web pages alike (Moon, 1999). Semantic web is not to build an artificial intelligence system which allows computers to understand what humans write on web pages; on the contrary, it is an attempt to make web pages more understandable and well-defined to support automatic extraction of data from within web content (Berners-Lee, 1998). Analysis The emergence of the web and the way HTML took off was driven by how society's needed to grew, from Internet chat to file transfer to high-end communities through blogs and wiki's. HTML was not limited to web content, knowledge base and help files adapted the language as a format to document software applications and provide training material. The revolution of technologies on the Internet allowed companies like Google to index pages; a thought that was very far away, says Tim Berners-Lee in his lecture at MIT. Web services have evolved to pave the road for distributed information and modular programming allowing interoperability among sites. Through XML, data in one site can be used by another using the common protocols and standards supported by both (Berners-Lee, 1998). XML defines schemas that deal with fields of data, what is required is a system that can tell the computer what sort of information (data) it can derive from within a page (Moon, 1999). With Web 3.0 a site will provide data that can be navigated through and extracted from multiple sites, this is a result of the fact that semantic web data model is closely related to a relational database where records of data share common fields that connect them together (Berners-Lee, 1998). The solution provided to support semantic web is in the form of metadata that describes the data contained on web pages. Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a base to manage metadata; it is the ground that computers can use to exchange and interact with applications on the Web (W3C RFC, 1999). The applications for RDF include digital libraries, online catalogs, and indexing systems that are usually associated with content and content relationships models deployed in most web pages. With RDF data within business portals will be analyzed and identified as resources, properties, or statements transparent to the domain, further more, the specifications will merge with other documents to comprise a framework of classes. Classes organized as a hierarchy comprises a schema that can be reusable as metadata definitions along side multiple platforms. Resources created in this hierarchy can be identified using a resource identifier (URI), which enables a document given to a machine with this identification to be recognized by the system and triggers it to dig and find similar data (Berners-Lee, 1998). Implications Semantic web can be the solution to overpower the limitations of current information management systems in finding and extracting data from unorganized resources. RDF is meant to describe any data regardless of its character, location, source, or type, the concept of URI is richer to uniquely identify any object on the web (Berners-Lee, 1998). The pillars of Semantic web are standards and common protocols that are the bases for knowledge representation; HTML, RDF, the data language resource description web ontology language (OWL) that describes to the machine what is going on, in addition to RDF1 which is a query language to make inquiries among machines much easer, will all emerge and collaborate to bring in more to the web and more intelligent programs that will bring the Internet more closer (Cleave, 2004). The current research and implementation of Abilene network and the Next Generation Internet (NGI) Internet 2 of high-performance backbone network linking major universities and research labs across the US, is a good foundation for what Semantic web can do, and represent the perfect platform for grid computing, digital libraries, virtual laboratories, and distance learning (Abilene, Internet2). Internet2 or I2 was developed by a group of universities in 1996 providing improved connectivity standards to reach 10gbps (gigabits per second). With more than 227 universities and libraries connected, network based applications and experimental programs can run on this network of high-bandwidth connection feeding on the latest technology of gigabit Ethernet and IP protocol version 6 (Reardon, 2004). Semantic web standards can be the base of material and data distributed on this network, providing the best test platform to explore the full potential and what can be achieved. Conclusion Tim Berners-Lee believes that with Web 3.0 we can succeed and fantastic things can happen, but the infrastructure need to be built, laws of privacy and security need to be revised and honored, further more, the web need to remain open for researchers to allow for continuous upgrade and development. Semantic web will kick off when individuals materialize the need to work on data processing, and think about collaborating their data, with company's information and that of the government (Moon, 1999). References:
FrontPage 2003 Made Me a Happy Webmaster
Let's begin with a little history. Many years ago, when the web was up and coming and you needed to be on it, I paid someone to build a site for me. Afterwards, I could say, "Yeah, I have a site, go to -" and then I would name my site a feel a hit of pride. I'd also get satisfaction when my webmaster (if you could call him that; I don't know that I would in retrospect, but that's another story) occasionally forwarded me an email of an interested visitor. My satisfaction was short-lived, as you might imagine. I soon began to understand the power of the web and found the sad reality that my "webmaster" was getting all my emails from my website visitors to be annoying. I had him change this so that the emails came to me. He charged me a one-time fee for getting him to do this. Okay, so these days it is not quite that bad, is it? Your webmaster or whoever is doing the "web thing" for you isn't charging you for every little service? Excuse me. I'll reserve my rant for another article, or possibly a blog entry. So anyway, I fired my webmaster. I built my own webpage. I did this - of all things - with Microsoft Publisher. Yeah, well, it worked - in that I was able to build a site and, with some effort, get it on the web. I won't go into why you shouldn't try this, kids, at home. I was at home when I tried it, sure. But I don't suggest building a site with Publisher. It can be done, but don't do it. One thing that happens - talk about annoying: The site crams all against the left side of the page. There's nothing you can do to change that. You might as well type out onto the web page "Look, Ma, I can create a website using Publisher." Don't do it. Well, I knew at the time I shouldn't be messing around with Publisher. It's great for putting together a book or something for print. It's not good for websites. I had just been so excited because I had created a downloadable book for lulu.com. Publisher was great for laying out a book. I had so much momentum... I put the Publisher site up, and thought I had done a pretty good job, considering that everything was crammed up to the left of the screen. I had yet to become a blogger, and I had yet to realize the importance of tagging and so on. All that important "extra" stuff. I'm joking. Writing tags is not extra. It's essential. So is the blog - on the website. Then I bought FrontPage and a book and... That's all she wrote. I learned FrontPage and I haven't tried anything else out since. Why not? So far I don't need to use the fantastic Dreamweaver that everyone talks about. Oh, I can't do Flash on FrontPage? Uh - yes you can. Easily. I continue to believe that content is all-important. Not bells. Not whistles. Content. I don't care what kind of a site you are putting up. Well, okay, I wouldn't necessarily use FrontPage for every circumstance. But for you and me, the individual or small company that wants to be up and shining on the web, FrontPage is the clear answer. At least it was for me. As I say, I haven't looked back since. One needn't learn the bells and whistles. One certainly needn't incorporate dhtml or whatever that code is that will make letters pop and fly about. Old browsers can't see it, and new browsers - mine, at least - don't want to see it. I have affiliated with companies. That is, I've tried to turn a dollar by putting them up on my site, a link or banner or what have you. Let me say that what I don't like are the banners that flicker and blink and all that junk. If I want the Las Vegas experience, I'll go there. Just give me content. FrontPage can handle that and handle it well. You want to be able to upload Flash, for sure. FrontPage can do it. You want to be able to get as much information on your website with as few bytes as possible. FrontPage can do this as well as any program. So, I'm happy. Are you happy - yet?
Preserving the Integrity of Your Flash Templates Before Use
If you have decided to use website templates to create your ideal website you have taken a step in the right direction. This is especially so if you don't want to spend thousands of dollars on custom templates and do not have the ability to create them on your own. Many people think that once they have the templates they are ready to roll, and you are in a certain sense. But, there are some things that you should do to make sure that you preserve the integrity of the template so you can use it again and again if needed. After You Purchase Your Flash Templates There are many sources for web templates and whether you buy them to install on your computer or you download them the very first thing that you should do is save them in their original format. So many people open the template and they are ready to jump right in and start designing their website right away that they don't take a moment to save the template the way it is. The reason that you want to save the template "as is" is because many who are new to working with templates end up hitting enter one too many times or they end up changing the font or changing the format of the page and they cannot get it back. It does take some practice to work with templates without disturbing their original integrity and if you know that you have the original template saved you don't have to stress out every time you distort the template somehow. The great thing is that a lot of the templates out there come with some basic directions. If this is the first time you will be using templates you should take a look at the instructions and see what you can learn from them. Many times simply glancing at the instructions before you dive right in will allow you to decipher between the different layers of the template so you are able to add text and images with ease. Slow Down and Then Begin Many people get their templates and they want to rush into building their website. Whether this is your first time using templates or building a website or the 10th you need to take a deep breath and then begin. If you rush into building your website you won't give it the attention that it needs and the quality will therefore be less than you had always imagined that it would be. If you slow down you will be able to give attention to the small details that really make a webpage functional and aesthetically pleasing. It doesn't matter what sort of webpage you are building, slowing down and preserving the integrity of the template is important so you can return to it again and again or avoid the frustration of trying to fix what has been distorted through the trial and error of using a website template in a rush.
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