[REBOL] Re: The Semantic Web - A solution?
From: gchiu:compkarori at: 14-Apr-2001 12:18
On Fri, 13 Apr 2001 09:37:42 -0500
"Scott" <[t-man--onemain--com]> wrote:
> "Why" not "what" was my question. I've actually read the
> article in
> Scientific America now, and thought I would find the
> answer in the "What
> is the Killer App?" link, but after reading that, I think
> the question
> was dodged by the authors.
I'm sure Carl could answer this better since he created
Rebol to build his vision of the "Semantic Web".
I agree with the authors that the Semantic Web is the killer
application.
The problem looks overwhelming when trying to solve it at a
global level, but at a local level it might be more doable.
Take for instance weather reports, I'm normally not
interested in the weather in California. I'm just
interested in local weather conditions for tomorrow in
Wellington - probabilities of rain, snow, sunshine, and wind
speed. I know several weather forecasters, and so I just
have to twist their arms to provide the weather in a machine
easily parsable format such as XML. At the moment, the
weather report is presented as it would be read over the
radio.
There is only one agency that provides train transportation,
and they publish their timetables on the web. That's a bit
harder, but it's doable to parse their timetables.
So, if I'm planning a trip, to say, up North for a picnic,
all my agents have to do is:
Book 2 return tickets after 11 am to Carterton if weather
okay for tomorrow. Return before TV X-Files starts.
I'll have one agent that grabs the weather, another to look
at timetables, another to book seats, and another to look at
my favourite TV programmes.
--
Graham Chiu