Shoe shopping with P.

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Inauguration Day

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Packman Pancakes

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Pacman Pancakes

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Semantics Explained

Great 6 minute video explaining the semantic web.



From Digital Bazaar

sociosemantic

Image via WikipediaWill it all just pass on by?

For someone who has invested so many years in moving forward Semantic Technology it is exciting and disturbing how difficult it has been to get people to adopt. I have previously blogged somewhat on this, so I won't go on. But increasingly I fins myself creating the "Semantic Web" without using semantic technology. Today after discussing twitter, twirl and a myriad of other social applications we commented how very semantic they all are, and that the behavior they instill in people to create context around their on and offline activities is creating this new web. With that it can be said that I am a participant - as likely you are as well - in what I thought of as a socio-semantic web. This is however, more of a stating the obvious than a flash of light moment.

I thought this sociosemantic term cool and like all things I knew I must not of coined it. A quick google later and there are a number of historic references from way back in 2005 :) on this topic. Peter Morville in his book Ambient Findability
has a chapter dedicated to his definition of the concept. The book has now been added to my reading list. I like a bit of history. But what is it that "I" think it is.

We have engaged in blogging, building social profiles, collecting friends, posting images from phones, cameras and the like. Bookmark collection and peer recommendation has proliferated. Now we micro-blog and track "friends", we group tag items of photos, places, wish-lists. All of these items were initially closed or proprietary to the site that created them. As sites have opened up and created API's it has promoted further innovation. Aggregation on the aggregation, niche applications to deal with individual filtering or information processing, a network effect of connections, no longer just the social graph of friends, but now the graph of our online activity and behavior, maybe even preference. It is this unformalized information structure that is creating the socio-semantic web around us. And I don't see a standards body in sight.

While rich with context and ever extending and changing - see the sudden rise of friendfeed as an example - this ssw is lacking in broad interchange, formal understanding and federated discovery. These are the core offerings of semantic technology standards, but does the ssw need them, or will the same collective view that organically created it just inovatedand deliver, on an as needed basis.

I don't know. The only way to find out is to just get on with it. Use it and innovate it. Sparql on Flickr anyone?

Which GPS..

There was a question on Engadget about which is the best EU and US GPS device, I commented, but it was as long as a post. So here it is...

In our work we travel a bunch and have even done a trans-continental USA trip (don't mention the rental that got wrecked in Montana when it hit a bear) and have driven most of Europe. You need a good GPS. It is never easy to find one. Firstly it is down to the maps - better maps, better experience. Second, when you get "lost" you need it to help, not give you dumb directions. A lot of the routing is just dumb. We also want good POI support - need to find lunch!

We have a Tom Tom which works excellent in Europe, not so great in the US. That is down to map quality. Also have a Magellan, it sucks, it couldn't find itself let alone a destination, I need to dump it. We have a Garmin handheld and a Nokia N810 with GPS, they are OK - I used the N810 to get around a freeway shutdown today. It is an occasional tool, but satellite acquisition is slooooww.

But when you are doing 100 MPH down the Autobahn. I want that TomTom with me. It is so natural to understand, clear UI, good maps (in Europe) and good routing.

But what do we know. We didn't even get a picture of the bear.