The Semantic Web

Back in 2015, I wrote my first blog post about the Semantic Web. It is a little bit long, but I recommend that you read it...but not necessarily before you read this one. 

Today, I am going to spend more effort to guide you towards sparking your interest in learning more about the Semantic Web.

WHAT IS THE SEMANTIC WEB?

The simplest answer I can give is, the Semantic Web is the mature form of today's World Wide Web. 
The Web is evolving slowly and steadily as certain owners of websites are using Semantic Web technologies to make their web pages "smarter". One big example is Google. Google uses a lot of linked data to build their famous Knowledge Graph. 
But regular people use these technologies as well. It is as simple as adding semantic mark-up to your website's content, that transforms a few of the information on your page from a string of letters that only human beings that read your language can understand, into links (URIs) that can be traced by a computer/device back to their meanings. More on this later.  

The Semantic Web is simply a world wide web that is rich in Linked Data. When you link data items (or things) together, you make it easy for computers and other devices to be able to find things through other things they had previously found. More interesting stuff happens when the links that connect those things themselves carry some meaningful data for the devices/computers to "learn". These new kinds of links are known as "properties", and they probably are the most ingenious aspect of the Semantic Web.

WHO INVENTED IT?

Tim Berners-Lee. The inventor of the World Wide Web (Not the internet). Like I said already, the Semantic Web will be the mature form of the World Wide Web that was invented by TBL. Here is a TED video where the man himself introduces the concept to an eager audience. That video is REALLY worth watching especially the first 4 minutes. 

And now, even though it was invented by TBL, I must mention that one very Key figure of great stature in the story of the Semantic Web, is our very own brother of Nigerian decent. Kingsley Uyi Idehen - the Founder and CEO of OpenLink Software, which has been instrumental in many of the most important Linked Data projects in the world. 

I was fortunate to connect with Kingsley on Google Plus, and he was generous enough to spend time teaching me a lot about the Semantic Web, and keeping on track as to what is important and what is not. 

Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of the World Wide Web. And he is a strong driving force in the development and adoption of Semantic Web standards, convincing governments and the corporate sector to get onboard.

WHY A WEB OF MEANING MATTERS?

Before, devices (laptops, smartphones, watches, etc) merely display data (and information) for our consumption.
These days however, devices are increasingly becoming primary consumers of this data themselves. They are able to more-or-less understand the data that they are displaying to you. 
If they understand the data themselves, they can do many dynamic and meaningful things with that data, beyond just merely displaying it to you.

This is the interesting goal of the Semantic Web.
One of the greatest minds in this area, Kingsley Uyi Idehen of Open Link Software (google him), describes this goal as,  "....ultimately about moving literacy to the digital realm, above all else" 

Please, try to wrap your head around that for a minute.
No. Please take at least 5 minutes to really think about it.

The point of linked data is to help computers and other devices to, not only READ, but also to, understand.
I mean something that can be comparable to human understanding. 

Devices cannot understand what we write today because the words you type on a page on your blog are merely a string of characters to them. "Chioma is the fastest female sprinter in Lagos" is no more meaningful than "5Fthyt Gh4&ff KOyyy %u 5fff5 uT$4f" to a web browser or any other electronic device without an expensive Natural Language Processing program operating within it. They cannot tell that there is a unique person "Chioma" and a major city "Lagos" in that sentence. After all there are many Chioma's on the internet. And there are even streets and boats in Portugal named Lagos. 

So a web of meaning matters greatly.

If I told you that I was a Chelsea fan, you immediately know that I mean this:

  
But what is stopping an HTTP: Web browser, if it could think,  from thinking you meant a product like this one made in the city of Chelsea, Massachusetts:

So what is desirable in a web of meaning is that digital devices begin to understand the things that we say and the things that we mean when we say them. Google has done a pretty decent job of this up until now thanks to their famous Google Knowledge Graph that I mentioned earlier. 

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

This is the most crucial part of what we are doing in Digital Africa.
We are trying to encourage you to want to know how things work so that we can find a way to use technology to solve our problems within the continent, and achieve our respective desired goals.
We ultimately want to place ourselves (hoping you join us) in a position where we can clearly see future big opportunities before others do, on our continent, and indeed the rest of the world. 
The only way to seize these opportunities would be for us to move really fast. 
Learn quickly. But be thorough with all you learn. 

Today, I work for a company that I really love. I was able to get a job with Tesla because I used my skills as a Google Power User to dig up very advanced information and knowledge about Tesla and about SolarCity all the way from when I was living in Nigeria. I was actively consuming information that the majority of so-called "analysts" in the US today, who give "expert" commentary on Tesla and on the solar industry, are embarrassingly clueless about! 

At the time I was doing all my research on Electric Cars & Solar, I did not know that I would be moving to the US one day. So I wasn't learning it with any plan to work for the company. I just wanted to learn about it because I saw it as a very remarkable company with an incredible Mission, and I believed that it was a vision that would have a massive impact on the world and on Nigeria someday. And things have now turned out better than I was originally hoping. 

It turns out today, that all that knowledge that I gathered over the years, helped me to crush my interview when I got to California and applied to work for Tesla. 
My knowledge of the industry still helps me to shine every time I talk to clients and people within the company today.

So knowing the way things work matters a great deal: Whether it is knowing a great deal about a company's mission, it's products, and it's methods before joining that company; Or whether it is having a lot of knowledge about a certain technology of the future, well before that technology becomes ubiquitous and impacting to millions of people. A technology like Linked Data.

This is why I am convinced that paying acute attention to the Semantic Web NOW and NOT LATER, will be thoroughly rewarding to you in the next few  years.
This keen attentiveness to the uncommon details of the subject is what will set you apart as the world grows further into a Knowledge Economy. 

HOW WILL THE SEMANTIC WEB WORK?

How does the World Wide Web already work?
Well, the simple answer is H T T P.

Yes! That "https://" or "http://" that you always see at the top of the address bar on your phone or laptop's browser.
You can say http is like a vehicle that travels to the websites you are trying to get information from. Http uses your web browser (chrome, internet explorer or opera mini) to collect this information from a server, and then comes back to serve you this information. Take note, the information can be anything from a blog article, to a Facebook photo, a music video on Youtube, or even a game. 

The problem is that your device doesn't understand what it is serving you. You can only use that device (laptop, smartphone with http-enabled browser) to access that vehicle (http) that speeds across the internet, being driven by your request, to help you obtain service from a server. 

But now, imagine if your device can be programmed to LEARN what is the information that the vehicle is carrying. And not just to know the information there in, but to also understand the meaning.  Imagine if the device can drive the vehicle (the HTTP vehicle mentioned earlier) for you if you needed it to?  

And this doesn't have to be a smartphone or laptop web browser. It can be any kind of device that can use that "HTTP vehicle" in itself. It can be Amazon Echo, Google Assistant or even an electric car. 
Any of this things can run a Reasoner (a software that is made to infer meanings from browsing through linked data). 


Think of a scenario where such reasoning software from all sorts of devices roam from page to page on the Semantic Web, learning about things, and can readily carry out more sophisticated tasks on those things for you at your command. 

It won't be easy to see a really clear picture of that right now, until the Semantic Web fully matures, and more sophisticated reasoning software are developed.

A web page from a news article from Punch may contain a link to another news article from This Day. But in the normal world wide web, that link is merely a oneway bridge that can take you or a computer from one article to another article. The link has no meaning except that it is a link.

However, in the Semantic Web, you can have data items (or resources) within a web page that link to other resources (either within the same web page or in another web page on the Web). But the most ingenious thing about the Semantic Web is that the link between these two resources that holds all of the magic. 

e.g. You may have a data item UdMax that links to another item called "RealEstateAgent", by a link that has the property "typeOf". 
Now if you were a student of the Semantic Web, by reading that code, you can immediately tell that it means that UdMax is a Type Of Real Estate Agent. But now, because of that typeOf link, even machines also understand this as well now.
They also understand that UdMax is in the same class as all other resources that link to that same RealEstateAgent resource using the "typeOf" link. 
But it gets even more delicious than that, but I won't go into all the interesting things that you can extend typeOf to. 

Another example is in fashion:
Say for example you were managing the website of The House of Deola Sagoe. 
You could actually have the web page that showcases her "Komole" fashion line not only describing that fashion line using semantic linked data, but you can also link that Komole to Deola Sagoe's wikidata item in Wikipedia (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5259977). Then you link it with the "offeredBy" property in Schema.org
What this does is taht it tells computers and other devices that Komole fashion collections are offered by Deola Sagoe (fashion designer) head of The House Of Deola Sagoe. 
The computers will link all of these together, and they understand that Komole is something in similar category to fashion collections offered by the likes Gianni Versace, Gucci and Luis Vuitton. 
So if someone like the Duchess of Sussex was visiting Nigeria in year 2025, her AI personal assistant may recommend that she check out Komole fashion articles.

Or something like that sha...... ;-)

LIMITATIONS

But like I always warn my fellow social scientists coming into the internet technology world, I must again warn that the best way to learn about a new technology is to always start with learning the present and past limitations of that technology. 

Don't be like lay people who love to tell each other that the Israeli secret service knows EVERYTHING about anyone entering Israel, and that they have a recorded video of everywhere they went to and everything they did, and recorded sound of every conversation with everyone they talked to, while they were in Israel.
I mean this is just plain ridiculous.

Technology is not magic. Eventhough sometimes it may look magical. 

The Semantic Web has a lot of limitations. A lot of hurdles need to be overcome for it to fully mature and for us to start seeing the magical things we expect from it.

It is when you learn of these limitations and the things that are needed to tackle these limitations that you will be well suited for the opportunities that come with whichever technology in the future.

OPPORTUNITIES

Finally

As African countries develop, and our rulers finally begin to "lead", we expect that technological advancement will be a major aspiration for most Africans. I expect that African countries, states and cities would follow the example of European and American govts who publish open linked data for the public, promoting accountability, transparency and increased access to information.

As Africans publish linked data, the kinds of things that software reasoners will be able to do with all the data available on the Web will become increasingly more interesting and exciting. Important new entrepreneurial ideas would spring up as a result. Many existing business models would receive a massive boost (e.g. self-driving cars and navigation).

But the most important thing I can think of for now is that, in the Semantic Web era, many different business applications will be connectable to other business applications to unlock fantastic growth opportunities. This is inevitable, as connecting "things" through logical relationships is the very essence of Linked Data. 

Hello Africa! Meet The Semantic Web

Or you may call it Smart or Open Data!

Hello Africa! How are you doing?

My dear sisters and brothers, please allow me to introduce you to the Semantic Web and to Linked Open Data.

The Semantic Web was developed primarily out of Linked Open Data and other similar technologies, but it has now evolved and impacts many different fields, including Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Predictive Analysis, Big Data, etc.

These are things that I strongly believe you should embrace with all seriousness and diligence in order to achieve that desperately needed change for yourself, your family, your community, your country, and our entire continent.

I am talking about the type of change that starts within the mind, and then spreads to affect most aspects of one’s life; and yes, even your financial welfare.

The Irony In Saying All You Need Is Money

When I tell most people how exciting the Semantic Web and linked Open Data can be, and that we would be more or less teaching computers and other machines to understand us, they are typically unimpressed.

Most times people ask me, "How does that put money in my pocket right now?" Or, “What  Machines are learning is not my priority. I just need to make money!”

And while it is indeed a pressing reality that we have serious welfare issues in most parts of Africa, I find it quite sad that many of us seem to be under the impression, that by merely talking about how important money is, this would somehow grab it and fling it into our pockets.

Anyway, let me share with you what I usually say to some of my young Nigerian friends that engage me in this frequently recurring discussion:

Here is my own argument:

"Try to remember 5 years ago: Were you not as aware then, as you are now, of how important money was?" 

You probably dismissed discussions of this kind back then as well, am I right?

OK.

"So how rich have you gotten now? I mean from keeping your realization about money undefiled by such "unprofitable thoughts" of future technologies or of even simpler things like blogging - about your own interests and passions?

But the more important question is, “will this exclusive regard for money and your exclusion of matters of the Web ensure that you have lots of money 5 years from now???

Think about it......"

At this point I usually just get blank stares.

But here's my suggested alternative:

(and I am now talking to YOU, the reader, and anyone you care to share this information with)

If you start to pay active attention to the Semantic Web, or Linked Open Data or Machine Learning and so forth, from right now; in 5 years time, you would have most likely mastered at least one of these Semantic Web or Smart Data related skills.

And while, I cannot promise that you'll be as rich as those few Africans that are mentioned in Fortune Magazine by then, I can assure you that you would be much better off than you are today; Regardless of whether African rulers remain corrupt and vision-less kleptomaniacs or not.

But most of all, you would possess skills that will get increasingly significant as time goes on, and as Africa continues to develop at these current amazing rates of growth.

This is irreversible wealth, in my humble opinion; more reliable than hoping for some miraculous contract from some government official that happens to know your cousin's mother-in-law.

What Is The Semantic Web?

Mind you, these days, the Semantic Web and its surrounding technologies are often referred to as Smart Data – perhaps mainly because it has transcended The Web. 

But since they say life started from the sea, I might as well help you to begin your journey from there......where it all started:

(the Web is the sea in this context, just in case)

The Semantic Web was the vision of Tim Berners-Lee, the man who invented the World Wide Web. It grew out of Berners-Lee’s inspired Linked Open Data community (World Wide Web Consortium or the W3C) which developed and maintains the standards behind most of the technologies of the Semantic Web.

Before this movement, there was a lot of data published on the web (both quantitative and qualitative data). But most of it was only understandable to people. The open data community was motivated to encourage people to publish their data in a way that machines can understand and consume them. 
The idea is that machines can do much more with data than humans.

So the W3C also encouraged linking data to data with clearly defined relationships. When these links are authoritative and trustworthy (as David Amerland loves to say - more on him later) then this is where the magic of the Semantic Web truly begins. Because there is no point with machines doing wonderful stuff with data that are lies now is there? That only means that the lies would be more believable and more widely accepted. And we don't want that!

Anyway, these data are essentially linked to other data to produce a gigantic graph of facts and relationships, so that software applications can follow these links, consume the data, “grow smarter” and serve us humans much more effectively as a result. 

This is expected to lead to unprecedented levels of knowledge and power for the human race in general.

Trust is the final by-product of all this. 

Here's the thing, all of this which we can calculate in microseconds in most given situations, are also machine-calculable in an algorithmic trust score that can determine the trustworthiness of a source of data and, by inference, the veracity of the data itself.

- David Amerland

Not A Replacement

One common misconception that could kill an average person’s interest in the Semantic Web is the notion that it is going to be an advanced replacement for the present World Wide Web.

The problem is, many of you are confused enough about the present World Wide Web as it is. You don't need a more “advanced” replacement!
I would imagine that you even secretly wish that this current Web you are used to would become more simple.

 
And that is exactly what the Semantic Web or Smart Data will do for the average user: Make things SIMPLE.

So the reality is that the Semantic Web is NOT “going to be” anything. It is already here now, and it already is this amazing technology that does not replace the current Web; it rather integrates with it and improves your experience of it remarkably.

Think of it as the same Web, only grown up; and is now influencing other areas of life beyond The Web (i.e. The Internet of Things, cognitive computing, image/object recognition, etc).   

You see, the billions of documents, apps and media that are currently linked to each other on the Web in its traditional form would still all be here, only that they can now be understood by computers and (potentially) other machines, as they are understood by humans.

This means greatly improved collaboration between humans and machines in the future. 

But You Don't Want To Be Like A Machine!!!

I understand!

And the truth is that the adjective “Semantic” has to do with the divergences between the meanings of words or symbols.
This is not about you or anyone else being compelled to understand the technical nuances of the World Wide Web; Nor are you expected to know code. (even though this will not hurt you one bit!)

It is about the Semantic networks and the machines that are designed to work within this framework effectively learning what is published on the Web, through the meanings of the facts and data published. 

This is why you have been coming across the term “machine learning” so frequently of recent. You see, it is the MACHINES that are doing most of the learning here, NOT necessarily YOU. 

So even if you are never going to go into the technical aspects of these things, learning as much as you can as it relates to the industry you are in, will give you an edge in future. Trust me.

How Can Africa Benefit From The Semantic Web

I am personally of the opinion that the 6 most significant problems that plague the Continent are in the areas of:

1. Good Governance (i.e. we have many corrupt and visionless rulers) 

2. Knowledge/Skill Acquisition (terribly and widely underrated)

3. Food Production & Distribution (much hunger persists)

4. Basic Health Care (is lacking)

5. Clean Water (I’ve written about this before – see here)

6. Electricity (as the mother of all basic infrastructure)

2 of these problems have immediate solutions from the Semantic Web, numbers 1 and 2.

Good governance thrives in an atmosphere of accountability and transparency. Not that it can solve corruption, or stop kleptomaniacs from stealing. I mean that Open Data projects have brought in a greater sense of accountability in many parts of the world, and can surely do it here as well.
Kenya even has some interesting stories on this.

As for skill acquisition, think of Google’s Semantic technologies (i.e. the Knowledge Graph and Semantic Search) and how they are enhancing people’s ability to find the most relevant learning material to them. And Google are not the only ones that are improving at this: Think of LinkedIn published posts, Medium, Quora, and the millions of instructional videos posted all over the web. To say that my rate of learning has increased phenomenally along the Web would be an understatement. 
And yet, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Africa must take advantage of the openness and “freeness” of these things. 
We would go out of our ways to invest lots of our parents money on many years of traditional education, but we are too lazy to learn online for free.

Here is a video I love to share, that gives a glimpse of what The traditional Web could do. Then consider what the evolved Web would be able to do as it gets smarter!

Meanwhile, there is enough evidence to believe that the solutions to the other 4 problems will come from the first 2, and that the growth of the Semantic Web and related technologies like Artificial Intelligence and the Internet Of Things will speed up this process.

Topics On The Agenda for the Smart Data Conference 2015 

show how diverse Semantic Web Technologies 

                  have grown since inception.                          

Fear Not And Share This

Another thing I feel I must mention is that I have met many people who are afraid of The Web as a whole. American movies like The Terminator series and The Matrix sometimes get people worked up and they feel that these things are dangerous.

Now, i can't tell you that machine learning and all that stuff isn't dangerous. But look at it this way, if we decide not to get involved in the Open Data future, would that stop it from going on?

And by the way, let me just say now that if you are an African reading this post, and you have gotten this far in the text, then chances are you are already in the frame of mind that I am trying to project here.

This document is actually then intended for your younger sister, who just finished from University; and insists that she will not touch another book or read another piece of text again. 

It is for your 22 year old cousin, who does nothing but sits around with his friends all day long, arguing about European football players’ salaries.

You need to tailor or repackage this message for them. You need to convince them to read this post.  You need to make them develop a 5 year plan for their future. Even if it is not Open Data, they must acquire skills that would be relevant to these!

Finally, I am going to ask you to turn to the twin article I have written together with this one. It contains a few technical terms and a few explanations just to get you to wrap your head around the basics, to get you started on this amazing journey.

In it, you'll find the 3 pillars of the Semantic Web, which are…

RDF

OWL

and

SPARQL

I tried my best to simplify them for a non-tech audience in that post, because I remember how tedious it felt the first time I heard terms like Ontologies and Taxonomies.

And now I wish to introduce you to a few of the people that I count to be very important if you decided to follow along on this journey. 

They are:

Sir, Ammon Johns – was the first Google search result for the search phrase, “Internet Marketing Consultant”. That should say a lot about many things. 
He does not purposefully teach about the Semantic Web, but I included him because his deep knowledge of the web in general is incredible. That's why I always include him. :-) (Sir Johns is on Google Plus)

When you read his posts and hear his comments about The Web and about marketing, you would understand.

Aaron Bradley – like Sir Johns above, is more of an internet marketing consultant with SEO specialization. He is also a Semantic Web developer who has been of muich help to me on my journey so far. On Google Plus

David Amerland – Fantastic communicator, thought leader and a fountain of knowledge in this area and others. He focuses more on Semantic Search (don’t forget the machines are the ones doing the understanding); usually from a Google Search approach. Think about it this way, Google is perhaps 95% search share holder in Africa, so obviously this is important.

Bill Slawski – has a law degree which he uses together with his scientific mind to break down Google patents and extract extremely valuable knowledge that never ceases to amaze. Keeping up with Mr Slawski will take you ahead of the game, because many of Google’s recent patents are related to these Semantic Web technologies.

Barbara Starr – Another top notch expert in the Semantic Web space. She is beauty and brains, and she even knows the brains of computers (i.e. she knows artificial intelligence). 

Barbara Star is from South Africa by the way.  :-)

Brian Sletten – A multi-talented scientist with an incredibly easy-to-follow style of explaining this Semantic Web stuff. (Well perhaps that could depend on what you already know about the Semantic Web).
Follow him today to keep up with his 5-part series on some rich linked data instruction.

Teodora Petkova – Content writer (freelance) and thing finder, and Semantic Web super enthusiast like myself. Her blog was were my Semantic Web journey started. Her posts on Google+ are also true to her title of “thing finder”.

Unlike the experienced experts on this list, one valuable thing you can learn from Teodora and me is how to remain interested and not get weary of keeping up with all of the technical jargon that could discourage the average person. I suggest you follow her on Google+ as well.

Kingsley Uyi Idehen (those of you from Edo State in Nigeria are familiar with this name.) who, along with Teodora, has played the biggest role in my journey so far. 
Let me just say that you need to circle him on Google+ as well. Right now! 
As I leave you with his quote on Linked Data and its technologies
(the one that really got me to sit up):

“It is ultimately about bringing literacy to the Web”

The Semantic Web accelerates machine learning thanks to Tim Berners-Lee's ingenious RDF/URI vision. 

VERY IMPORTANT: If this article interested you, even just a little bit, then please do not waste anymore time. Knowledge is extremely valuable. Get in touch with me right now. God knows that we Africans need to take advantage of this opportunity as quickly as possible, while it is not yet so widespread even in most of the Developed world.

Finally, if you are an artist or social scientist like myself, and you are wondering why you should be taking this journey, then please take my advice:
......the computer jargon and the code noise will quickly wear-off, and you will soon begin to see how much more of our world is in here.  

When I first joined Google Plus, and started following math and computer science experts, I felt like an "English-man in New York". 
But these days, I honestly feel as if these computer science guys are mere intruders in my home. 
Hahaha! :-D 

I would be glad to help you make this journey much easier and even enjoyable for you. I am sincerely here to help.  I am mostly active on GooglePlus, and then Facebook, then LinkedIn and Twitter. But you can still find me on Pinterest as well.

Have a great week, and hope to hear from you soon!