A peep into the future – Semantic Web

In this last semester of my bachelors, after having a job, I hardly have any decent work to do .. so I have let my interest and imaginations run my days. Just a couple of random wiki pages and googling brought me to a new buzz word “Semantic Web”. I have read a little about it, but all that I have read has already made me thinking and I find this new field kinda interesting. Its amazing how people have envisioned the future. A very nice book gives the following view of future .. hope u can handle it

This is called Semantic Web Agent technology .. a Futuristic view
“Michael had just had a minor car accident and was feeling some pain in the
neck. His GP suggested a series of physical therapy sessions. Michael asked
his Semantic Web agent to work out some possibilities.
The agent retrieved details of the recommended therapy from the doctor’s
agent, and looked up the list of therapists maintained by Michael’s health
insurance company. The agent checked for those located within a radius
of 10km from Michael’s office or home, and looked up their reputation according
to trusted rating services. Then it tried to match between available
appointment times and Michael’s diary. In a few minutes the agent returned
two proposals. Unfortunately Michael was not happy with either of them.
One therapist had offered appointments in two weeks’ time, for the other
Michael would have to drive during rush hour. Therefore Michael decided
to set stricter time constraints and asked the agent to try again.
A few minutes later the agent came back with an alternative: A therapist
with excellent reputation who had free appointments starting in two days.
However there were a few minor problems:
• A few of Michael’s less important work appointments would have to be
rescheduled. The agent offered to make arrangements if this solution was
adopted.
• The therapist was not listed on the insurer’s site because he charged more
than the insurer’s maximum coverage. The agent had found his name
from an independent list of therapists, and had already checked that
Michael was entitled to the insurer’s maximum coverage, according to
the insurer’s policy. It had also negotiated with the therapist’s agent a
special discount. The therapist had only recently decided to charge more
than average, and was keen to find new patients.

Michael was happy with the recommendation, since he would have to pay
only a few dollars extra. However, because he had installed the Semantic
Web agent a few days ago, he asked it for explanations for some of its assertions:
how was the therapist’s reputation established, why was it necessary
for Michael to reschedule some of his work appointments, how was the price
negotiation conducted. The agent provided appropriate information.
Michael was satisfied. His new SemanticWeb agent was going to make his
busy life easier. He asked the agent to take all necessary steps to finalize the
task.”

I have done quiet a lot of research in this field now and will be posting some of my findings very soon. BTW if the above excerpt excited you.. do go through the first few articles in this book at my web page.

Hope you will enjoy the book