Semantic Blogging.

I used to think the W3C Semantic Web folks all had their heads in the clouds; I stand corrected since Phil found this in his referers.

Dave Reynolds, Steve Cayzer, Ian Dickinson, and Paul Shabajee are out to demonstrate the value of the Semantic Web by building real applications they call "demonstrators". Among the selection criteria for potential apps (in the analysis and selection document):

• illustrate the overall semantic web vision, good mix of semi-structured data, webness and deeper semantics;
• a good chance of impact and uptake across a large enough community to become a live application and not simply an artificial demonstration;
• the semantic web aspects of the demonstrators should be visible and apparent to the end users and not hidden behind the scenes;

They have identified and explained a lot of concrete activities where the Semantic Web could be useful, including knowledge management, semantic indexing, personal information management, metadata for annotation and for discovery, and knowledge formation.

The two demonstrator applications that they have selected are semantic blogging and bibliographies and semantic community portals. This section briefly explains how they want to upgrade blogging to semantic blogging, focusing on the task of building bibliographies with blog tools (such as Charles Bailey does with the scholarly electronic publishing bibliography).

The requirements spec explains in more detail what this is all about, and guess what? They (rightfully) bring up the TopicExchange as a step towards the use of shared ontologies.

There is some movement in the blogging community to what we call semantic blogging. The Movable Type Trackback functionality [MT_TRACKBACK] allows two way linking between blog items. Some blog commentators envisage the next step, which is attaching semantics to these links [LINKING_DANGEROUSLY]. Richer (hierarchical) categories are facilitated by the RSS2.0 standard [RSS2.0]. The Topic Exchange activity [TOPIC_EXCHANGE] uses TrackBack as a step towards the use of shared ontologies. Further details on these and other activities can be found in the appendix on related work, but it is worth emphasising them here. These developments indicate that there is a real need for the capability that we are proposing. [...]

Trackback can been used to create community topics [TOPIC-EXCHANGE] and thus facilitate emergent ontology formation. XFML [XFML] offers a low cost way to define and link taxonomies, although as yet there is no RDF serialization of the specification. Nevertheless, the combination of the two is an attractive proposition.

Indeed, eh Matt?

This is strong work. I wish I could watch these guys. They see us but we don't see them (except when they put out bricks such as these). Can't wait 'til one of them starts a blog.

[Seb's Open Research]
6:12:52 PM  #  

Are doctorates worthwhile?. Are doctorates worthwhile?.

asks Brian Martin in his review of Canadian literary scholar Wilfred Cude's The Ph.D. Trap Revisited.

The PhD is the accepted apprenticeship into research and has become a prerequisite for academic jobs in most fields. But is it a good idea? The negative view is that studying for doctorates wastes vast amounts of time and effort, produces narrow-minded scholars and discourages recognition of good teaching. Far from promoting research, according to this critical view the doctorate is a serious brake on intellectual creativity.

I believe that the Ph.D. may globally be an institution that selects against originality, but there might be pockets of oxygen here and there with open minds where one could come up with a fresh approach and survive. However, things can get difficult afterwards, as Ph.D. hiring practices can also be conservative in most places. It's hard to be taken seriously when you stand out too much.

Martin also reviewed Jeff Schmidt's Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System that Shapes Their Lives. Jeff Schmidt was an editor at Physics Today magazine for 19 years, until he was fired for writing this provocative book. From the review:

Jeff Schmidt argues that training professionals is a process of fostering political and intellectual subordination. On the surface, this is a startling claim, since the often-stated aim of educators is to promote independent thinking. [...]

There are two key ideological processes in professional education, according to Schmidt. One is favoring students who pick up the point of view of their superiors, behavior Schmidt calls "ideological discipline." The other is favoring students who direct their curiosity as requested by others, a trait Schmidt delightfully dubs "assignable curiosity."

Hm. If there's one thing I've been sorely lacking all my life, it is indeed assignable curiosity. Guess I'm an amateur professional.

Schmidt also draws an interesting parallel between indoctrination as practiced in cults and professional training. But I think there are cult-like aspects in almost all social structures, not just the professional ones. Perhaps they are more important where there is a lot of power to be gained by working one's way up, though.

Brian Martin's writings on higher education systems are among the most thought-provoking ones that I've come across, by the way.

[Seb's Open Research]

I am glad to know I am not the only one asking myself this question. The knowledge I aquired through my doctorate is now completely useless as I work as a system manager and I did my doctorate in atomic physics. However the skills I acquired (how to teach, work independently, organise my own schedule, manage an always tight budget, etc...) are absolutely vital as I telecommute to work, my clients are scattered across 7 time zones and my boss is 13 time zone away. It may be true that in certain fields the Ph.D. serves to professionalize the students but this was true in my case. I had the joy to do my Ph.D. under the supervision of an independant thinker who never shied away from a controversy. It taught to be independant and to have the courage of my opinion. Never go with the flow for the flow's sake. I put the two books quoted above on my reading list. Hopefully I'll have a time to take a look at them soon.

[Charles Nadeau: Knowledge management]
6:10:21 PM  #  

What consumer electronics markets could a hand-held hard drive gut (when thinking about this, it is important to think of 2010 when you will likely have a TB in a hand-held package)?  A fully realized system would radically impact the following:

1. Digital still cameras.
2. Digital video cameras.
3. Portable radios.
4. Portable CD players.
5. TiVo (if shipped in combo with a base station that contains a hard drive).
6. Digital audio recorders.
7. Car DVD and tape players (with FM transmission add-ons for the Archos or iPod).

In all of those cases, the core element is the portable hard drive.  The recording and/or playback feature functionality is merely a dumb peripheral (directly connected or connected via wireless).  Add wireless and server capabilities and it can power your PC, your TV, and your stereo.  It allows you to take your library of media on the road with you.  It allows you to share your media library with friends and family.  If application software was designed with this device in mind, you could take your favorite applications, and their data, with you and run them on any computer you choose to run them on.  There are even some interesting things that could be done with wireless phones such as providing synchronization to provide bottomless voicemail storage and more. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

6:05:29 PM  #