The goal of the Semantic Web initiative is as broad as that of the Web: to create a universal medium for the exchange of data. It is envisaged to smoothly interconnect personal information management, enterprise application integration, and the global sharing of commercial, scientific and cultural data. Facilities to put machine-understandable data on the Web are quickly becoming a high priority for many organizations, individuals and communities.
The Web can reach its full potential only if it becomes a place where data can be shared and processed by automated tools as well as by people. For the Web to scale, tomorrow's programs must be able to share and process data even when these programs have been designed totally independently. The Semantic Web Activity is an initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) designed to provide a leadership role in defining this Web. The Activity develops open specifications for those technologies that are ready for large scale deployment, and identifies, through open source advanced development, the infrastructure components that will be necessary to scale in the Web in the future.
The principal technologies of the Semantic Web fit into a set of layered specifications. The current components are the Resource Description Framework (RDF) Core Model, the RDF Schema language and the Web Ontology language (OWL). Building on these core components is a standardized query language, SPARQL (pronounced "sparkle"), for RDF enabling the 'joining' of decentralized collections of RDF data. The GRDDL Recommendation and the work on RDFa aims at creating bridges between the RDF model and various XML formats, like XHTML. The POWDER Working group develops technologies to find resource descriptions for specific resources on the Web; descriptions which can be ‘joined’ to other RDF data. Finally, SKOS is a model and an RDF vocabulary for expressing the basic structure and content of concept schemes such as thesauri, classification schemes, subject heading lists, taxonomies, 'folksonomies', other types of controlled vocabulary, and also concept schemes embedded in glossaries and terminologies.
The Activity was renewed (Member-only link) in June after a successful Advisory Committee review. The renewal meant a new charter for the Semantic Web Health Care and Life Sciences Interest Group (HCLSIG), see below.
The OWL Working Group is working on a new version of an OWL W3C Recommendation that refines and extends the 2004 version of OWL. The group had a face-to-face meeting in Cambridge, MA, USA, and is planning a face-to-face during the Technical Plenary week in Mandelieu, France. The group has published some new documents and also re-published earlier drafts in April 2008; this was followed by a next round of publication in October, including some first public Working Drafts. The current plan is to publish Last Call Working Drafts for the whole suite of documents after the face-to-face meeting in Mandelieu.
The Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER) Working Group is continuing its work to develop a mechanism through which structured metadata (“Description Resources”) can be authenticated and applied to groups of Web resources. The group held one face-to-face meeting in London, UK, in July 2008. The group also held a stakeholders’ (outreach) meeting in September in San Clara, CA, USA. The group published several drafts in July, including a First Public Working Draft for the Formal Semantics Document. Finally, the whole POWDER suite has been published as a Last Call Working Draft in August.
The Rule Interchange Format (RIF) Working Group held its 10th face-to-face meeting in Gallway, Ireland, in May, and its 11th face to face meeting in New York, NY, USA, in September. In August the group has published Last Call Working Drafts for the RIF Basic Logic Dialect (BLD) and RDF + OWL Compatibility (SWC), as well as First Working Drafts of the RIF Production Rule Dialect (PRD), as well as the BLD companion documents Datatypes and Builtins (DTB), and Framework for Logic Dialects (FLD).
The Semantic Web Deployment Working Group has published (jointly with the XHTML2 Working Group) a Candidate Recommendation Version of RDFa. The Candidate recommendation period was successful, which resulted in a formal call for review for RDFa Proposed Recommendation. Finally, this resulted in the publication of the RDFa Recommendation in October 2008.
The Working Group has also published a Last Call Working Draft for SKOS in August after the publication of an intermediate version in June. Finally, the final Working Group note for the Best Practice Recipes for Publishing RDF Vocabularies has been published in August.
The charter of the Semantic Web Health Care and Life Sciences Interest Group (HCLSIG) has been renewed after a succesful review by the AC; the new charter was announced in May and the group started its work in June. The group plans its first face-to-face meeting during the Technical Plenary Week in Mandelieu, France, in October.
The GRDDL Working Group has published the GRDDL Recommendation on 11 September 2007 and is currently in “hibernation” state.
The DAWG Working Group has published the SPARQL Recommendation on 14 November 2007 and is currently in “hibernation” state; however, a new charter is now in development, as announced to the AC in October 2008.
The Activity plans the publication of a number of documents before the next Advisory Committee meeting in April 2009. A number of documents suites (SKOS, some parts of RIF, OWL, POWDER) are either in Last Call Working Draft already or will be very soon. This means that there are good prospects that these documents will reach minimally a Proposed Recommendation phase by the next AC meeting. Finally, a new charter for the DAWG Working Group may be developed and proposed for review to the AC at the end of 2008.
| Group | Chair | Team Contact | Charter |
|---|---|---|---|
| GRDDL Working Group (participants) | Harry Halpin | Dan Connolly | Chartered until 31 January 2008 |
| OWL Working Group (participants) | Ian Horrocks, Alan Ruttenberg | Ivan Herman, Sandro Hawke | Chartered until 1 July 2009 |
| Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER) Working Group (participants) | Phil Archer | Matt Womer | Chartered until 31 December 2008 |
| RDF Data Access Working Group (participants) | Lee Feigenbaum | Eric Prud'hommeaux | Chartered until 31 December 2007 |
| Rule Interchange Format Working Group (participants) | Christian de Sainte Marie, Christopher Welty | Sandro Hawke | Chartered until 31 May 2009 |
| Semantic Web Coordination Group (participants) | Ivan Herman | Ivan Herman | Chartered until 31 May 2011 |
| Semantic Web Deployment Working Group (participants) | Thomas Baker, Guus Schreiber | Ralph Swick | Chartered until 30 December 2008 |
| Semantic Web Health Care and Life Sciences Interest Group | Susie Stephens, Chimezie Ogbuji, M. Scott Marshall | Eric Prud'hommeaux | Chartered until 30 May 2011 |
| Semantic Web Interest Group | Dan Brickley | Ivan Herman | Chartered until 31 May 2011 |
This Activity Statement was prepared for the October 2008 W3C Advisory Committee Meeting (Members only) per section 5 of the W3C Process Document. Generated from group data.
Ivan Herman, Semantic Web Activity Lead
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