Semantic desktop

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The semantic desktop is a term used in computer science . Here, ideas from the semantic web are taken up and transferred to all computer programs. This mainly applies to changes in the interfaces between the programs, as well as changes to the user interface . This should be guaranteed by the introduction of RDF as a universal data format.

The main difference between the semantic web and the semantic desktop is that the data in the semantic web is publicly available, while the data in the semantic desktop is intended for personal use.

Problem

The problem with non-semantic information architectures is that data is stored in special, independent file formats . For example, e-mails are stored in e-mail files (or an e-mail database), contact data in contact files, appointments in appointment files, etc. In addition, the file formats differ between the individual manufacturers, which means that the data can be interpreted or even merged is only possible with special software. In many applications, however, it is absolutely necessary to bring together information from different programs, such as an address book and an appointment calendar.

An e-mail application is an example that offers the option of composing an e-mail to this address when you click on an e-mail address. However, this functionality does not have to be available elsewhere, for example in a list view with received e-mails, since the e-mail address could be serialized to a character string. Although the address is the same for the user, the program handles it once as an e-mail object, while the program only offers a character string with reduced functionality in the list view.

Such problems do not exist in an application that follows the idea of ​​the semantic desktop. In semantic applications, all information is made available as far as possible in a uniform data format (such as RDF). Due to the use of ontologies , which are additionally provided, the computer can also derive conclusions from them as to how the data are to be treated and how they can be linked with other data. On the other hand, all objects are treated in the same way, which means that the same methods are available wherever an object of a certain type is presented to the user.

See also

Web links