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thuswise to swerve

Wikipedia and the Semantic Web

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Submitted by Jim Brown on May 12, 2008 - 6:07pm.

Powerset has developed a tool that allows users to search Wikipedia with "conversational phrasing instead of keywords." I tried this out by searching "Who is the current president of Russia?", and didn't really get my answer. The first link told me it was Vladimir Putin, but Dmitry Medvedev was inaugurated on May 7. How do I know this? I Googled "president russia" and eventually got my answer. The first link of the Google search gave me Putin as well, but the second and third links gave me Medvedev.

And this is what I don't get. Who is it that is having such a hard time searching the Web using keywords? I'm not arguing that this is the best way to search, but I do think it's currently doing the job. Much like the QWERTY keyboard (which was designed to slow down typists who were jamming typewriters), it seems we've settled on keyword search for any number of random (and not so random) reasons.

Changing this accepted practice is going to be difficult, and I'm curious what advantage there is to revamping our searching practices. There are any number of problems with a semantic search. The first that comes to mind is a point that Lawrence Lessig often makes: the Internet is a dumb network and it was designed that way for a reason. The reason? The intelligence is placed at the edges allowing for more innovation. What happens when the Web gets smart (that is, what happens when the Web tries to guess what you're searching for)? Does a smart Web close off possibilities for innovation?

And this brings me to a second concern (there are more than two). Any serendipity seems to completely go away with this kind of approach. If the Web is going to guess what I'm looking for, what gets sifted out in the meantime? Maybe I won't stumble into something really interesting...something that a "smarter" Web will have decided that I'm not interested in.

Powerset's semantic search tool is an attempt at "freeing users from always needing to type the exact words they want to find." I'm really skeptical that Internet users need to be "freed."

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"The atoms, as their own weight bears them down plumb through the void, at scarce determined times, in scarce determined places, from their course decline a little- call it, so to speak, mere changed trend. For were it not their wont thuswise to swerve, down would they fall, each one, like drops of rain, through the unbottomed void; and then collisions ne'er could be nor blows among the primal elements; and thus nature would never have created aught."

-Lucretius, Of The Nature of Things

About Me

My name is Jim Brown and I'm a Ph.D. Candidate in Rhetoric at the University of Texas. I teach courses in Rhetoric, Literature, and New Media. This blog mostly focuses on my academic work, but you'll also find occasional posts about music or baseball. I also maintain two other blogs, and you can see all of my blog writings by viewing this RSS feed. I'm a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. This lets you know that I'm kind of a masochist and explains the name of my dog.

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