Daniel’s Blog

Just a small post as its quite late and I am le tired.

Kingsley can often be found talking about a “Universe of Discourse” (just search his blog for “Universe of Discourse” and you’ll find a few results), and this evening I’ve been pondering on the meaning and value of it.

What is it?

Well, there is a funny story, because the first time I heard Kingsley mention “Universe of Discourse”, I thought he said the “Universe of Discord” which is something completely different! But anyways, Discourse is a debate or conversation… which means that its a Universe of Discussion…. which is an interesting way of looking at the web… but I actually saw this in action today! Kingsley wrote a blog post yesterday ( “Adding WordPress Blogs into the Linked Data Web using Virtuoso” ), which then I “simplified” in my blog this morning ( “Simplified: Adding WordPress Blogs into the Linked Data Web using Virtuoso” ), which Kingsley then mentioned and extended upon in his blog earlier ( “Linked Data enabling PHP Applications“).

What is the value of it?

Question: This kind of discussion must be valuable right, especially with Semantics being embedded?

Answer:

Yes, definitely! This is because talking about a topic through, researching it, talking it through with others, building, talking is the best way to clear up any kind of “mess of assumptions” (see “Concept Babble = Garbage” by Wolfgang Greller)…. it also helps standardise methods and formats to increase the capability of integration.

When theres a discussion going on in two blogs but with one theme (or “flavour”), we can track this by linking data from one post to the next. Then data can be linked into other systems such as DBPedia, enabling some potentially powerful queries based on conversations and potentially aiding the clear up of any misunderstandings!

It is then also possible build an attention & interest profile based on what you talk about on blogs and wiki articles (etc)… a place where SIOC, SCOT, SKOS and MOAT could really take off (and possibly also APML).

What about you?

• How about we try this out?
• Do you have any theories about how we can take advantage of all of the discussion going on?
• And finally a question for Kingsley, have I understood you correctly on this one?

The Universe of Discord

I mentioned earlier in this post that I misheard Kingsley at first, I thought he said Discord instead of Discourse… this is an interesting one because Discord means disagreement, conflict or disharmony. Which is the mash of stuff that we have to deal with from Web 1.0 and Web 2.0: unstructured, mis-structured or free text documents which, in order to get higher in Googles rankings, need to be “Search Engine Optimised” in order to be noticed, which can often make or break certain businesses… not good, and its a shame that the Web has turned out like that (so far). This is where the Semantic Web and Linked Data come into play, and will clear up the Discord.