The Next Wave of the Web (Plenary Panel)

• Nigel Shadbolt, University of Southampton, UK
• Richard Benjamins, iSOCO, Spain
• Tim Berners-Lee, W3C, USA
• Jim Hendler, MINDSWAP, USA
• Clare Hart, Factiva, USA

Track: Panels

The World Wide Web has been revolutionary in terms of impact, scale and outreach. At every level society has been changed in some way by the Web. This Panel will consider likely developments in this extraordinary human construct as we attempt to realise the Next Wave of the Web - a Semantic Web. The discussion will focus on the prospects for the Semantic Web, its likely form and the challenges it faces. Can we achieve the necessary agreements on shared meaning for the Semantic Web? Can we achieve a critical mass of semantically annotated data and content? How are we to trust such content? Do the scientific and commercial drivers really demand a Semantic Web? How will the move to a mobile and ubiquitous Web affect the Semantic Web? How does Web 2.0 relate to the Semantic Web?