Big Data and the Semantic Web – What does it really mean?

If you hang around long enough in trendy business circles, you are likely to hear multiple references to "Big Data" and the "Semantic Web". These are just the latest in a long line of?tech buzzwords banded about liberally but rarely understood.

Big Data and the Semantic web tag cloudThe latest, greatest boardroom buzzwords[ GRO]

But unlike previous trends and catchphrases like “gamification” which have faded without really changing much, big data and the semantic web are starting to transform business. In the next decade, they will bring technology into our lives in ways we have only dreamed about. So understanding them is vital.
 
Understanding Big Data and the Semantic Web in simple terms
 
"Big Data" is a term that has been used to describe the vast growth in data and availability of data that has taken place over the last 20 years. The advent of the Internet led to massive spike in the volume of data being created and made available. This accelerated further when the web went social. By 2012? it was already estimated that 90% of all the data in the history of the world had been created in the previous 2 years.
 
Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In and others not only help us create masses of data, they also make it available to developers to access. So "Big Data Analytics" has become a major growth industry. Social and web data are already helping to power new ways to credit score consumers, detect criminal activity and hundreds of other important activities.
 
One of the biggest obstacles for Big Data analytics development is the variety of web-based information, some structured, some numeric, some totally unstructured (eg video, audio). This is where the "Semantic Web" steps in. Its origins are in a collaborative movement led by W3C to promote common data formats to make the data on the web more consistent and easy to interpret.?
 
For "Big Data" analytics companies, the Semantic web will allow them to help businesses make even better decisions in real time. For B2C companies, led by Google, the semantic web will allow them to provide consumers with better answers and experiences instantly.
 
Is the Semantic web something for now or for the future?
 
Although we are at an early stage, the Semantic web is already a reality. 
 
Google is leading the charge. It is building a gigantic database of entities - peoples, places and things.

This database is highly structured in order to map commonalities and relationships between entities. It is also populated with facts and knowledge that Google is amassing about each entity. The reason for amassing all this entity knowledge is that the vast majority of searches are not for words but for people, places and things (entities).

So if Google has enough knowledge about all the world’s entities, it will have enough knowledge to actually understand what you are searching for and answer your request more directly and accurately.
 
Google starting building this massive knowledge vault over a decade ago but it has been in the last 2 years that we have seen Google actually start to flex its semantic muscles. In 2012, they launched the Knowledge Graph and in 2013, they released an algorithm update called ‘Hummingbird’. Their impact is clear...

Matthew McConaughey in Google Answers and Google Knowledge GraphSince ‘Hummingbird’, Google answers questions directly [Google Search]

A search for "Oscars best actor 2014" now returns you with a direct answer (Matthew McConaughey).

If you expand the Answer you can see Google’s Knowledge Graph that demonstrates not only that they know who Matthew is but also his relatives, other facts of interest, similar actors etc.
 
Google now understands search requests, answers them and helps you quickly discover more relevant information.

What does this mean for my business?
 
It means that, over time, users will begin to expect other services, like Google, to understand and answer their needs.?
 
In order to do this successfully, businesses are going to have to emulate the path Google is taking which means:

1) Creating a highly structured database modeled on entities
2) Generating lots of data, ideally uniquely interesting content about their most important entities
3) Amassing significant data on each user and their specific habits and history.
4) Using all of this to answer each users need and to help them discover new content of interest
 
 
What does this mean for me as an individual?
 
It means your privacy will inevitably reduce but that machines are going to start serving you in ways until now only dreamed of in sci-fi fiction. We won’t be confined to computers, tablets and mobiles nor to typing out our requests.

We are moving towards a world where your car will not only drive you, it will also answer your questions on what building you are looking at and suggest food dishes it knows you are hungry for.
 

David Gross is the owner of? digital growth architects , a team of London-based digital growth architects. gro specialises in helping businesses optimise their technology, content and design for the semantic web. Chat with David on Twitter:

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