Well, friends, it is really happening. Some of you know that I have
been working for a long time on a book about the Semantic Web, and it is
finally about to be published. The title of the book is
Explorer's Guide to the Semantic Web
It is being published by Manning (www.manning.com). The publisher just
told me that it should be available in electronic form from their web
site in about a week, from them in paper in about 3 weeks, and from
bookstores in 6-8 weeks.
The book is about the nature of the semantic web - what the devil do
people think it is supposed to be anyway? - and about the technologies
that will be needed to make it happen. What kinds of technologies will
be needed, how much is in existence now, how will they work together,
what are their strengths and pitfalls ...? There is an entire chapter
on Topic Maps, and another on RDF, the two together standing for the
domain of knowledge representation.
Other areas the book covers are search, annotation, the potential role
of logic in the semantic web, ontologies, agents, distibuted trust and
belief, and more.
The book has had a slew of reviewers, including Michel Biezunski, Rick
Jellife, Uche Ogbuji, Duane Degler, Danny Vint, and our own Eric Freese
and Alexander Johannesen, to name just some of the very knowledgable
folks who graciously gave of their time and experience. The reviewers
helped a tremendous amount in steering and shaping the book to the form
it ended up in.
So by the time of Extreme in Montreal, the book should be in the
bookstores. Please check it out at the Manning site when they make it
available. I think it contains much material that will be very
interesting to memberss of this list (and related lists).
Cheers,
Tom P
|
