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If you’ve been lurking around any technology forums, or you just plain live and breath the stuff, chances are you will have come across the term “Semantic Web.”

Maybe you’ve even attempted to get a handle on the whole thing, and started throwing around terms like, RDF, Core Metadata, and all sorts of artificial intelligence concepts. Or, perhaps like me, you stumbled across some of the resources on the web, only to find you can’t make much sense of something that you think might just be really, really important.

Well, let’s see if we can get a handle on this… without making it overly complex.

To put it simply… the Internet is on the verge of another revolution. The development of the World Wide Web made the Internet accessible to millions by making it easy for anyone to publish and access documents on the Internet. However, the explosive growth of the Web has led to the problem of information overload.

Because of this, researchers from industry and academia are now exploring the possibility of creating a “Semantic Web,” in which the “human” meaning of web pages is made visible to computers, allowing machines to process and integrate Web resources intelligently.

Beyond improving quick and accurate web searches, this amazing technology may also allow the development of intelligent Internet agents and help promote communication between a wide array of web-enabled devices.

The Semantic Web will help to bring much needed “structure” to all that valuable content on the Web, making sure that software “agents” can go from webpage to webpage, with the swift grace of a human Internet user.

The Semantic Web is not a separate Web but simply an extension of the current one, where webpages are given well-defined meaning, making it possible for computers and people to work together more effectively.

The first steps involving the development of the Semantic Web into the current structure of the existing Web are already well advanced. Very soon, the Semantic Web will provide a whole new level of functional tools, as computers and software becomes better able to “understand” all the content currently available on the Web.

This is really significant, because up until now, the Web was developed as a medium for sharing content between people. The Semantic Web will allow for a huge amount of such content to be “processed” by computer agents, and software.

Plus, the Semantic Web will make this possible very quickly.

For the Semantic Web to grow at full speed ahead, computers must have a structure, and set of rules for making sense of all that data.

The biggest challenge facing the Semantic Web then, is to provide a language that represents meaning and logic. No simple feat to be sure. The two most important technologies for developing the Semantic Web are already in use by many web developers: eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and the Resource Description Framework (RDF). In short, XML allows web developers to add the “structure” to their documents but says nothing about what the structures mean. Meaning is then expressed by RDF.

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When giving Technology Talks, I realize that even though the basics of powerful presentation skills should be used, this type of presentation offers many different challenges to the speaker. In this article, I examine the various Ts — some helpful and necessary; some to be overcome and/or avoided.

Topic(s) — As with planning any type of presentation, we must remember that it is important to choose a topic that will interest the largest number of people who will attend. The majority of those in our audiences are interested in topics that provide solutions to their problems and affect them directly.

Trends — These help determine the topics that are hot. Every program I have attended where Microsoft products are being presented and explained is filled to capacity. Not only is Microsoft a hot trend topic, it is also performed by Microsoft employees with the best equipment, beautifully designed visuals and well rehearsed programs.

Techniques — Whether or not your topic is technical, you must have a passion for it, be enthusiastic, be prepared, have control, keep it lively and interesting, and speak to the level of the audience.

Trust — Make sure that your audience members know who you are, where you are coming from and why you are there. Once we have their trust and they know we are real people experiencing the same problems they face, the participants will listen and take note of what we are saying.

Triads — I feel that one of the biggest challenges faced by presenting a technology talk is the huge scope to cover. I suggest planning your presentation using three major points. Triads work because they narrow the topic; they are more readily remembered and will easily keep you on Track.

Time and Timing — Many of the technology talks I have attended have either gone over the time allotted and/or have not covered what was expected by attendees. Below are some Tips for ways to avoid this Trap:

• Tactics — These refer to the way you set up the structure of your presentation. When we are giving a technology talk, listeners often interrupt to ask a burning question. The primary tactic I use to reduce this diversion is to show that I have saved a slot for Questions and Answers.
• Takeover — Especially in the field of technology, there are those listeners who are even more knowledgeable than you, the speaker. They will jump in and try to takeover. Thank them for their interesting and helpful comments, however, point out that in the interest of time, you must move on.
• Tangents — Even with proper planning and preparation, it is the nature of the beast that when we are presenting a technology talk it is easy to go off on a tangent. Remind yourself to keep on topic. It might even be a good idea to ask a friend to sit up front and signal you if you start to wander.

Teacherly, Tedious and Tiresome — three descriptions that we don’t want to encounter as presenters. Our goal is to make our presentation lively and interesting enough that no one is bored. I find that during the Q & A session, there may be others in the audience who can answer a question better than I can and I welcome their feedback at that time in the talk.

As long as your audience members leave Thirsting for more, you have succeeded!

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There is a growing number of people who are becoming anti-technology these days. Recently in a long debate with a very “Pro-Human” individual as he wished to be called; we discussed the possibility that you are either pro-human or you are against us? I laughed and said well I am pro-human. He said well if you are pro-human you must be anti-technology.

That of course is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my entire life. He was basically calling technology evil and treating the “pro-human” movement a new religion. So I explained to him my position and platform, borrowing the political term.

“I am pro technology, anti religion and pro forward progression of the human race and I am pro-Capitalism, pro free markets and pro-strength of the individual. I do not believe anyone has to choose as it is not an either or, but rather a “both or all” choice and thus we must move forward.”

Why would one be against technology? Technology is good and it gives us all more free time to be more human with. I further said to him that I believed that the more technology we could have the better and I was for promoting technology whenever I could; Damn the torpedoes “full steam ahead” or in this case “warp 10 and lets bend some space time shall we?” If all this means taking some risks, then lets take some risks, stop living in fear and start moving to our destiny.

You see folks, technology is neither good or bad. If technology is used in an evil way then that is because man or those “pro-human” movement people allowed it to be used that way. Technology does not kill people; people kill people. Think on this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

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