From HP Labs , This description of Semantic Blogging gives an idea of the level of thought already being applied to the utilization of "blogs":
Extract:
Web-logging, typically abbreviated to "blogging", is a very successful paradigm for lightweight publishing which has grow sharply in popularity over the last two years. The notion of semantic blogging builds upon this success and clear network value of blogging by adding additional semantic structure to items shared over the blog channels. In this way we add significant value allowing navigation and search along semantic rather than simply chronological or serendipitous connections.
Blogging, as it stands, already offers many compelling values. It provides a very low barrier to entry for personal web publishing and yet these personal publications are automatically syndicated and aggregated via centralized servers (e.g. blogger.com) allowing a wide community to access the blogs. Blogs have a simple to understand structure and yet links between blogs and items (so called blog rolling) supports the decentralized construction of a rich information network.
Semantic blogging exploits this same personal publishing, syndication, aggregation and subscription model but applies it to structured items with richer metadata data. The metadata would include classification of the items into one or more topic ontologies, semantic links between items ("supports", "refutes", "extends" etc.) as well as less formal annotations and ratings. There are several ways this more structured data could extend the power of blogging:
- Discovery. At present is it not easy to discover either a channel of interest (e.g. "I would like to find blog channels about the semantic web") or a collection of specific items of interest (e.g. "Are there any more blog entries describing this application idea?").
- Cross-linking. Current blogs support a single link between the channel record and the blogged item. By extending this mechanism to support linking between items (using a property hierarchy) we can create a network of topic interconnections that supports more flexible navigation. These links can themselves form part of the disseminated content - for example to represent the structure or scholarly discourse.
- Flexible aggregation and selection. The current blog subscription mechanisms are in some ways both too fine (being bounded by the individual blogger's channel of posts) and too coarse (e.g. I might like Ian's technology channel but am only interested in the semantic web bits). The richer categorization and structure of semantic blog channels would make it easier for users to create virtual blog channels which aggregate across multiple bloggers but select from that aggregate according to other criteria such as topic (or community rating).
- Integration with other sources and applications. The structured nature of semantic blog channels makes it possible to develop automated blog robots that can process and enhance the blogged items. For example, in the bibliography domain transducers would enable import and export via existing bibliography schemas like BibTex and automatic linking to large repositories such as CiteSeer.
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