I doubt this is an original thought, but after listening to a fair amount of discussion on metadata and the Semantic Web at DC-2003 this week, I'm struck by this thought:
The Semantic Web will be built first behind firewalls.
Random thoughts to back this up:
The metadata and RDF aspects of the Semantic Web are hard enough that only professional developers will be able to tackle them without mature toolsets.
The Semantic Web is about creating environments that enable "computers and people to work in cooperation". Big companies have massive information management problems where Semantic Web solutions could help.
One concern with building systems that rely so heavily on exposed metadata is metadata spamming. Spamming isn't an issue in the intranet space. And, trust is less of an issue within a corporate environment.
Posted by Karl
October 3, 2003 04:20 PM