As awareness of the Semantic Web grows within the technological community, it has also leaked into the mainstream media, with newspapers and broadcasters beginning to discuss (and ask fundamental questions) about the SemWeb itself.

Much of the coverage, from a techy’s perspective, misses the point, or is off, or just doesn’t share the vision or whatever. The problem is, the mainstream media (and the mainstream itself) is not composed primarily of techies! Most of the coverage of the rise of the Semantic Web has been generated by a very specific community—technology bloggers—who have their own perspectives on the sphere. The debate is raging, but it’s mainly contained within the echo chamber of the technological community.

When the attention of the rest of the world is jerked suddenly by the inclusion of the word ‘Semantic Web’ in an important event, or when a technology or process they already use is affected, they will seek to answer a fundamental set of questions: "What’s the Semantic Web? What does it mean to me? How can I get some?" From a techy’s perspective, these questions are laughable. It’s difficult to describe the Semantic Web, and mistaken to try to define it too closely. We know this: it’s abstract, amorphous, Beta, in development… we’re familiar. But, perhaps this is where the communication problem lies. The public, and the public’s media reflect their understanding by thinking of the Semantic Web as a product, or even a single entity. It’s seen as ‘the internet of tomorrow’ and is personalised: "it will know… it will suggest… it will do something for you. [1] You see, it’s a concept they’re trying to understand using all their familiar metaphors:

Semantic Web = Product, like a new PC, we can buy it and it will serve some purpose

Semantic Web = Service, like Digital TV, we pay for it and it enhances our lives

Semantic Web = Status Symbol, "I don’t know about you, but mine’s Semantic!" (this is reinforced by the idea of Web 3.0)

Media reflect their audience, and many of the journalists tasked with presenting breakthrough technologies struggle to get their heads around the mass of new vocabulary and ideas they need to process, so it’s understandable that they won’t always hit the nail. In fact, it is the journalists’ task to simplify, to generalise and even to translate the new technologies and opportunities to their general audiences. Many articles show this as they try to force the amorphous and abstract concepts presented to them into metaphors people can easily understand. Other articles, perhaps show where a journalist has made a mistake or hasn’t completely understood a concept. There was recently an article in The Times in which the views of Sir Tim Berners-Lee were misunderstood and mis-emphasized. He had to correct this in his blog, which, unfortunately, does not get seen by as many people as the Times. Finally, there do appear to be articles written by journalists and commentators who are frustrated or dismissive of the Semantic Web. Some of these posts and articles reflect less a misunderstanding (though that is certainly not completely removed) and more a hasty judgement or an arbitrarily-chosen perspective.

Now, it lies with the technological community to try to get the messages straight about the semantic web. We need to be tying into publicly-accessible metaphors to get people to understand the SemWeb better. It’s not that they’re completely mistaken: The semantic web is new, and will make our lives better, and is a service… it’s just that these metaphors don’t capture most of it… or even the core meanings. It’s all about getting the meaning of the new technologies out in a clearer way.

It’s ironic, really, that the Semantic Web should struggle so much with semantics!

The problem is that if we present a mixed, complicated, and difficult concept forward, the journalists and media commentators are not going to be able to sort out the tangle of meanings for us. They will present an (over)simplified, half-understood message to the rest of the world. When even a brilliant communicator like Tim Berners-Lee’s message gets scrambled, maybe it’s time to take stock in how we present the Semantic Web, especially to the general media. Maybe, a set of metaphors could help us present these:

The semantic web is a platform (one we already use frequently)! The semantic web is a layer of connectivity (like a concentric ring around the web itself). The semantic web is a series (more than one thing) of enablers (it makes possible, rather than it does)

There are loads more, I’m sure, which could help to present our ideas about the Semantic Web. For inspiration, watch Tim Berners-Lee’s talk about what he sees as the Semantic Web. Feel free to share yours here too.

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