In an earlier blog post I reflected on the fact that it is now 25 years since the web was born. I had the opportunity to bring web technology into a large organisation. Many colleagues asked Why are you so obsessed by this "Web thing"? (remember that this was the time when a Swedish minister said that "Internet är bara en fluga").
So, now in 2014 many ask me Why are you so obsessed with this "Semantic Web thing"?.
I had a good chance to reflect on this question when I was asked to be one of the keynote speaker at a very nice conference: SWAT4LS, Semantic Web Applications and Tools for Life Science, in Edinburgh.
SWAT4LS 2013 keynote
Pushing back, standards and standard organizations
in a Semantic Web enabled world from Kerstin Forsberg
Pushing back, standards and standard organizations
in a Semantic Web enabled world from Kerstin Forsberg
I was also interviewed together with other speakers by the eCancer organisation in relation to the EURECA (Enabling information re-Use by linking clinical REsearch and Care) project, Always scary to see, and hear yourself, but I think I managed to convey some of my thoughts. And it is really nice to watch the interviews with Frank van Harmelen,Eric Prud'hommeaux, Robert Stevens and David Kerr.
However, I think the one that best expressed the answer to the question was Charlie Mead. Charlie has been around in a long time in the standard world, working with HL7 for health care data and CDISC for clinical research data. Charlie is now a co-chair of the W3C interest group for semantic web for health care and life sciences (HCLS). I recommend this 7 minutes interview with Charlie. Below I have transcribed the last part of it as I think Charlie well express the reasons for Why I'm so obsessed by this "Semantic Web thing".
Charlie Mead W3C HCLS semantic web interest group |
"The thing that is really astonishing about the semantic web, the tools and technologies, really solve all of the core problems that we struggled with for a very long time.
And they solve them in a very elegant way, which almost by magic, that live on top of the Internet that we now works and have brought tremendous value.
And I think the real barrier to adopt these technologies is that is if more people understood what they can do I think the change curve will come faster and the resistance would melt more quickly."
Kudos to Scott Marshall, W3C and EURECA project, (@mscottmarshall)
for arranging the interviews and to the eCancer TV team.
for arranging the interviews and to the eCancer TV team.