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Re: [ontolog-forum] Knowledge graphs by Google and Facebook

To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Kingsley Idehen <kidehen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2013 23:14:29 -0500
Message-id: <50FB6F25.6010301@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On 1/19/13 4:40 PM, John F Sowa wrote:
> Kingsley,
>
> I forgot to reply to the following point:
>
>> The work by Facebook and Google doesn't align directly with the Web
>> as a distributed DBMS as per your comparison above.
> Like nearly all major companies that use the WWW to make a profit,
> Facebook, Google, and Microsoft (Bing) have ignored the Semantic Web.    (01)

They haven't, but let's get some definitions clear.    (02)

Q: What is the Semantic Web about?
A: Webby structured data based on an entity relationship model that's 
endowed with machine readable entity relationship semantics.    (03)

Where is the Semantic Web today with regards to Facebook? As I stated a 
while back [1], Facebook was a major contributor to taking the Semantic 
Web vision over the point of critical mass. Facebook (to their credit) 
has offered open access to its Webby structured data for a very long 
time. Every data object in the Facebook data space is accessible in the 
very manner espoused by the Semantic Web vision.    (04)

Where is the Semantic Web today with regards to Google? As indicated in 
a post [2] I made some time ago, they've approached this on two fronts:    (05)

1. schema.org -- which provides yet another effective mechanism for 
creation and propagation of webby structured data    (06)

2. knowledge graph -- they are ingesting data from the Linked Open Data 
(LOD) cloud -- which includes Freebase -- and other sources, but not 
necessarily exposing this in the most virtuous manner i.e., its a 
business model driven semi-silo.    (07)


> If there is a useful resource, such as DBpedia, they'll use it as
> input.    (08)

See my comments above. They also applies to IBM's Watson. Ask the folks 
behind that project and they will tell you how much the LOD cloud 
contributed to Watson's smarts.    (09)

> But they translate it to more efficient representations.    (010)

I disagree.    (011)

>
> As I said before, I was working at IBM in R & D areas for 30 years,
> and I had a strong interest in AI areas for even longer.  But I was
> repeatedly frustrated by the way some very intelligent, but totally
> clueless academics managed to convert promising opportunities into
> bubbles that burst in disasters.    (012)

Yes, but these are different times. Mistakes have been made, and many of 
these have either been addressed or an in the process of being fixed.
>
> I have a lot of respect for Tim B-L, who had some promising ideas
> in the 1990s and early 2000s.  But once again, clueless academics
> got hold of the SW, pasted their PhD dissertations on top, and
> converted a promising beginning into one more bubble that
> mainstream IT ignored.    (013)

That was the case with RDF/XML. That snafu is over, we've moved on. The 
vision has already manifested in stealth, across many fronts. Facebook 
knows that, Google knows that, and I would like you to know and accept 
that too :-)    (014)

Facebook is a large bubble missing from the LOD Cloud pictorial. The LOD 
cloud itself is already in excess of 50 Billion triples (and counting 
every minute) before you add everything that Facebook contributes each 
time one of its members creates a data object.    (015)


Links:    (016)

1. http://bit.ly/NzfyF0 -- Facebook and its exploitation of Linked Data 
(critical component of the Semantic Web vision) .
2. http://bit.ly/NZ18Rg -- Google Knowledge Graph and the Semantic Web .
3. http://bit.ly/LFt9al -- Re-exposing Google Knowledge Graph data in 
its original Linked Data form.    (017)



>
> John
>   
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>    (018)


--     (019)

Regards,    (020)

Kingsley Idehen 
Founder & CEO
OpenLink Software
Company Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Personal Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
Twitter/Identi.ca handle: @kidehen
Google+ Profile: https://plus.google.com/112399767740508618350/about
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kidehen    (021)

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