Semantics Online

Much of the literature heralding the benefits of XML has focused on its application as a medium for application interoperability. With (a) the Internet as a platform, (b) Web services as the functional building block components of an orchestrated application, and (c) XML as a common data format, applications will be able to communicate and collaborate seamlessly and transparently, without human intervention. All that's needed to make a reality is (d) for everyone to agree on and use XML tags the same way so that when an application sees a tag such as it will know what it means. This intuitive understanding makes a lot of sense, which is why so many organizations have sprung into existence to create their own vocabularies (sets of tags) to serve as the "ling... (more)

Semantic Web The Next Big Thing?

As I was traveling across Asia and hanging out in waiting rooms, customs lines, etc., my mind turns to the future, since the present is so dull. In our business you always have to keep wondering "What is the next big thing?". The more I think about it, "Semantics" always seems to bubble up to the top. To be clear, Semantics is the study of meaning. But its much more than that. Everything ... (more)

Semantics and Context

Although XML defines each data element in a given transaction (the semantics), there's no mechanism to also communicate the business context. This represents the difference between reading XML and understanding the business impact of the transaction. The use of namespaces, numeric values, and time stamps all create some context when looking across transactions or business entities. In th... (more)

Comparing Networks Semantics in CORBA and Java

The recent issuance of an RFP for "Unreliable Multicast" in CORBA got me thinking about the many network semantics available in a combined CORBA/Java environment. There are at least five already, not counting Unreliable Multicast: Java RMI invocations; CORBA synchronous invocations; CORBA asynchronous and messaging-mode invocations; one-way notifications using the CORBA event and notific... (more)

The Semantic Enterprise: Are Semantics the Future of Mashups?

Is it just me or does it seem like semantics are trying to compete with mashups for the ‘it’ technology crown of 2008? Tim Berners-Lee reiterated his vision of the Semantic Web. In case you haven’t heard him do this pitch before, here’s the jist of it straight from the interview: ‘In the semantic web, it's like every piece of data is given a longitude and latitude on a map, and anyone can... (more)