Ground-Up Semantics

The Semantics Search

Today's Web: a basically mechanical resource containing lots of personal information
There's very little machine-discoverable information about that content
Adding semantic information enables searching in human terms
How can we add this information?

Social Networking Is Hot!

Friendster, Tribe, Orkut, Ryze, LinkedIn, Technorati
Some track purely mechanical links
Some express very binary relationships
None capture real human relationships very well
Is there an easy way to add better information?

Blogs and blogrolls

People want to build and explore social networks
Weblogs (blogs) are fastest growing part of the web
“Hello My URL is...” name tags
People are already linking to each other as URLs in blogrolls
Logical next step: add relationship info

XHTML Friends Network (XFN)

Just add rel to your blogroll links

<a href="http://adam.example.com">Adam</a>

With XFN:

<a rel="friend met"
   href="http://adam.example.com">Adam</a>

With the addition of a profile, it’s valid (X)HTML!

XFN: A Little Background

XFN 1.0 released December 2003
- http://gmpg.org/xfn/
Work of a small group with a common goal
- Matthew Mullenweg, Tantek Çelik, Eric Meyer
Everything Creative Commons licensed
Guiding principle: keep everything as simple and obvious as possible

Rapid Adoption

In the first three months: hundreds of users, thousands of nodes
Numerous tools already support XFN:
- WordPress, MT template, Blosxom plugin, Nvu
- blo.gs, blogrolling.com
- XFN Creator, XFN favelets, Exefn
Already a search engine: Rubhub (sort of a Friendorati)

VoteLinks

Sponsored by Technorati
Again uses rel attribute

Allows simple voting on link target

<a href="http://gmpg.org/xfn/">XFN</a>

With VoteLinks:

<a rel="vote-for"
   href="http://gmpg.org/xfn/">XFN</a>

Why VoteLinks?

Number of links does not equal popularity of idea
Allows services to assess “community mood”
Provides semantic enhancement for services like Technorati
Could be cross-indexed with XFN information

License Annotation

First proposed by Tantek Çelik and Kevin Marks at ETECH (February 2004)
Currently being used by Creative Commons for its license links

Yet again uses rel attribute

<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0/" 
  rel="license">Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0</a>

Enables search engines to find both ends of the connection: what's being licensed, and the terms of that license

How Do These Work?

XMDP: XHTML Meta Data Profiles
- http://gmpg.org/xmdp/
Defines a format for creating profiles
Profile format is simple XHTML (primarily a definition list)
Just link in the profile and go!

Linking In Profiles

Oddly enough, profile attribute is the key

You can add one:

<head profile="http://gmpg.org/xfn/1">

...or several:

<head profile="http://gmpg.org/xfn/1 
   http://developers.technorati.com/wiki/VoteLinks">

...to a document

A Quote From The Man Himself

“The trick.... is to make sure that each limited mechanical part of the Web, each application, is within itself composed of simple parts that will never get too powerful.”(Tim Berners-Lee, Weaving The Web)

Ground-Up Semantics

Tiny pieces of semantic information attached to the information already in place
Combining those pieces can lead to rich information sets and search results
Semantic data emerges and is utilized according to community interest (evolutionary)
A better approach than an attempt at semantics being imposed from above ("Intelligent Design")

Spreading Semantics

Identify a limited problem with a simple solution
Create a profile that people can quickly grasp
Publish the result openly and freely
See what happens!

5th Annual Webmaster Forum

Ground-Up Semantics

Ground-Up Semantics

Eric A. Meyer

Principal Consultant, Complex Spiral Consulting

Chief Bit Wrangler, meyerweb.com

The Semantics Search

Social Networking Is Hot!

Blogs and blogrolls

XHTML Friends Network (XFN)

XFN: A Little Background

Rapid Adoption

VoteLinks

Why VoteLinks?

License Annotation

How Do These Work?

Linking In Profiles

A Quote From The Man Himself

Ground-Up Semantics

Spreading Semantics