Why Semantic Web Technologies: Are We Asking the Wrong Question?
I haven't written much lately. I've been busy building things.
And while I've been building things, I've been learning things.
I'd like to start writing and start sharing some of the things
I've been learning.  I'd say that at least once a week, when
talking to prospective customers, I get asked the following:
What can I do with Semantic Web technologies that I can't do
otherwise?  It's a question that's asked in good faith:
enterprise software buyers have heard tales of rapid data
integration, automated data inference, business-rules engines,
etc. time and time again. By now, any corporate IT department
likely owns several software packages that purport to accomplish
the same things that Semantic Web vendors are selling them. And
so a potential buyer learns about Semantic Web technologies and
searches for what's new:   The real answer to this question is
distressingly simple: not much. IT staff around the world are
constantly doing data inte