A Discount Approach to the Semantic Web

The frameworks underlying the Semantic Web have developed and matured greatly over the last years. However, uptake has been patchy, with the majority of SW use based around a small number of popular applications. User testing with SW–based projects highlights a number of issues that may contribute to this effect; principally, these relate to gaps between the user’s mental model and formalism. Similar problems appear in non–SW developments with a strong reliance on a complex data model. Such problems include semantic drift and overload, and the provision of inaccurate or incomplete data. Working from a case study, this paper discusses difficulties with capturing real–world semantics in a large–scale collaborative environment. A preliminary model of user behaviour with respect to shared establishment of semantics, from socially shared cognition, is discussed. We conclude by discussing some possible features of a “discount” model of the Semantic Web, designed to accomodate diverse communities of users, with reference to examples taken from the “small–S” Semantic Web, microformats and free–text tagging.