Creating and Exploiting a Web of Semantic Data

Twenty years ago Tim Berners-Lee proposed a distributed hypertext system based on standard Internet protocols. The Web that resulted fundamentally changed the ways we share information and services, both on the public Internet and within organizations. That original proposal contained the seeds of another effort that has not yet blossomed: a Semantic Web designed to enable computer programs to share and understand structured and semi-structured information easily. We will review the evolution of the idea and technologies to realize a Web of Data and describe how they can help support information sharing in science. This presentation was given at the Earth and Space Science Informatics Workshop.