You have probably come across the old adage “Lets not argue
semantics”. However, it seems that
arguing semantics is exactly what is needed to open the door to a new realm of
technological advances.
Semantics, in
its purest and simplest form, is the study of meaning. Its focus is on the
relationship between certain signifiers (words, phrases, symbols, and signs)
and what they collectively stand for or represent. It dives deep into the
science of the meaning of language, and the various principles that govern the
relationship between sentences or words and their meaning.
In ordinary language, the word semantics is often used to
indicate difficulty in understanding due to word selection or connotation. This
widespread issue has been the target of many research analysts in the field of
formal semantics. Semantic content is found within every human interaction.
Within linguistics, the meaning of body language, facial expressions, sounds,
and other forms of non-verbal communication are examined in an attempt to extract
the semantic implications of each. Paragraph structure and punctuation are some
of the areas of written language that are studied in an effort to discover the
inferred meanings of the words and concepts used, and the context within which
they are found.
The English language is a great example of semantics in
action. There are various English words that may be spelled and/or pronounced
exactly the same, but have distinctly different meanings depending upon the
context in which they are used. The punctuation used in a sentence or conveyed
verbally through conversation also often times dictates the meaning of an
entire sentence. The semantic nature of a facial expression is shown in the
stark difference between a simple smile as opposed to a scowl or sad
expression, and how these conveyed emotions can drastically change the message
that is being delivered to another person. Each of these illustrations shows a semantic
meaning that lies within the way in which the words or expressions are
structured and delivered.
One of the areas that semantics is having an astronomical
affect on is the Internet. Michael Uschold writes, “The Web is evolving from
containing information resources that have little or no explicit semantics to
having a rich semantic infrastructure.” Technology moguls are rigorously at
work to give well-defined meaning to the masses of information contained on the
Internet. The goal of these individuals and organizations is to create a web
environment by which computers are able to essentially understand data and
create connections between the information, making communication between humans
and computers a much more cooperative process.
Certain outfits have already begun the process of implementing
semantic web technologies into their businesses. The British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) has made national news throughout the past two years for
their transition towards a fully dynamic semantic publishing architecture. They
are improving upon the user experience through the use of linked data
technology to automate the process of aggregating interrelated content. Their
first use of this technology was the creation of the BBC Sport World Cup 2010
website.
Swiss technology company 3i-Mind has developed a web
surveillance product called OpenMIND. OpenMIND, which is designed specifically
for intelligence and law enforcement agencies, automatically finds suspicious
patterns and behaviors across the Internet. Angela Guess of SemanticWeb.com
writes, “It digs not just within social media, but also through blogs, online
forums and the ‘deep Web,’ where many chat rooms exist… The company claims it
can analyze text ‘according to its semantic meaning’ and show whether ‘C4′
is referring to explosives or something else.”
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