Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Semantic MediaWiki: Attributes and Relations

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
I'm somewhat intrigued by the idea of a semantic wiki, but express caution that it could get complex (and hence, obscure) in a hurry. I mean, straightforward prfopositions involving concrete entities ("Berlin is the capital of [[is capital of::Germany]], Berlin has [[population:=3.390.444]] inhabitants" seem so intuitive. But semantics has a way of getting away from you. For example, quantification, conditionality, modality and propositional attitudes all offer challenges for expression. How would you mark up a sentence like "It is widely believed that the same people responsible for the first attack were responsible for the second"? NJot a problem in Wikipedia, where standard English may be used - but a poser in a semantic wiki, leading us to ponder, first, whether a semantic markup converys any obvious advantage over naturage language, and second, where semantic markup alters the intent and meaning of the expression, creating some sort of pseudo-sterile version of knowledge.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Oct 10, 2024 10:42 p.m.

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