The World Wide Web turned 20 years old last Friday, and its creator, Tim Berners-Lee, says its potential is hardly reached. His next vision, a vision he’s been talking about for years, is the Semantic Web, which on the surface seems as simple as herding cats. But don’t let the specifics bog down a perfectly good concept with just the right amount of vagueness to drive it forward.
Close to twenty years ago Tim Berners-Lee changed the world. He may, judging by a recent speech before the Knight Foundation, amend that to say it was the developed world that was changed, and not entirely for the greater good. There is still the optimistic sense, though, that the Web is a work largely unfinished, leaving lots of good to be done.
He wasn't referring to their habit of pooping and puking everywhere; the way in which babies cry and scream also doesn't apply. But in any event, Tim Berners-Lee recently said that the Web is "still in its infancy."
Before we get into the details, please keep in mind that no one from WebProNews had any part in making this list. But a list of influential people in technology is indeed out, and it puts Tim Berners-Lee, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page in the top three.
The language used to describe the Semantic Web is complicated enough – at a glance, it looks a bit quantum theory-ish, just enough to make your eyes roll back into your head to look for ways to kill themselves – but Tim Berners-Lee, who's responsible for all those Ws littering your URLs, inspired enough faith that whatever the Semantic Web was, it could be accomplished.
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