Building the Semantic Web

In the information age it is widely understood that there is now too much information. Some of this newly created information will most certainly be valuable, but despite marked improvement in search tools, finding the valuable information is a slow panhandle. Perhaps in light of this situation, the W3C under the direction of Berners-Lee has begun to build the foundation for the next phase of the web. This phase, called the Semantic Web, will make information stored with this technology much more processible by machines.

Emonds-Banfield, Peter. Orange Journal, The (2002). Articles>Web Design>XML>Metadata

Coloring Outside the Lines

Once upon a time, we were curious and everything we encountered was new. We were excited about discovering new things and the world offered unlimited possibilities. Then we went to school and were taught to color inside the lines, that everything had its place and the world was ordered.

Malone, Erin. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Articles>Web Design>Instructional Design>Metadata

Hypermedia and the Semantic Web: A Research Agenda  

Until recently, the Semantic Web was little more than a name for the next-generation Web infrastructure as envisioned by its inventor, Tim Berners-Lee. With the introduction of XML and RDF, and new developments such as RDF Schema and DAML+OIL, the Semantic Web is rapidly taking shape. This paper gives an overview of the state-of-the-art in Semantic Web technology, the key relationships with traditional hypermedia research, and a comprehensive reference list to various sets of literature (hypertext, Web and Semantic Web). A research agenda describes the open research issues in the development of the Semantic Web from the perspective of hypermedia research.

van Ossenbruggen, Jacco, Lynda Hardman and Lloyd Rutledge. Journal of Digital Information (2003). Articles>Web Design>Metadata

The Meta Description Tag

The keywords and phrases you use in your Meta description tag don't affect your page's ranking in the search engines (for the most part), but this tag can still come in handy in your overall SEO campaigns.

Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2004). Articles>Web Design>Metadata>Search Engine Optimization

A Metadata Framework Developed at the Tsinghua University Library to Aid in the Preservation of Digital Resources

This article provides an overview of work completed at Tsinghua University Library in which a metadata framework was developed to aid in the preservation of digital resources. The metadata framework is used for the creation of metadata to describe resources, and includes an encoding standard used to store metadata and resource structures in information systems. The author points out that the Tsinghua University Library metadata framework provides a successful digital preservation solution that may be an appropriate solution for other organizations as well.

Niu, Jinfang. D-Lib Magazine (2002). Articles>Information Design>Web Design>Metadata

The Semantic Web, Taking Form

The Semantic Web is a conceptual information space in which the resources identified by URIs can be processed by machines. It operates on the principles of 'partial understanding' and 'inference' (being able to infer new knowledge of terms from data that you already understand), and hence evolution and transformation. Because the URIs are being used to represent the resources, systems can grow on a globally decentralized basis, similar to hypertext documentation systems on the early WWW.

Palmer, Sean B. InfoMesh (2001). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Metadata

Two Kinds of Keywords

I have long wondered why government web sites all over the world tend to use metadata of several different types jumbled together and overlapping. For example, pages with two description metatags or two or three title tags are common. I suspect that most of the replication and confusion has developed for historical reasons.

McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2005). Articles>Web Design>Information Design>Metadata

Use Product and Service Names as Keywords on Your Web Pages

I am quite surprised by what I have learned about the effectiveness of product names as organic search keywords.

Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2006). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Metadata

La Web Semántica, Hoy

Hace casi tres años comentábamos que la promesa de la web semántica era convertir la red en 'un espacio auto-navegable y auto-comprensible.' ¿Dónde estamos hoy en día?.

Dursteler, Juan Carlos. InfoVis (2003). (Spanish) Articles>Information Design>Web Design>Metadata

Don't Forget A Strategy for Microcontent—Headlines, Decks, Buttons and Links—When You Redesign Your Site 

Little things mean a lot. Especially online. Microcontent—or the headlines, decks, subheads and other 'small' pieces of web copy—actually do most of the communicating on your web site. Handled poorly, microcontent can confuse and frustrate web visitors. Here's how to write microcontent to communicate to—instead of discombobulate—your readers.

Wylie, Ann. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Metadata