What is the Semantic Web and what does it do?

What is the Semantic Web and what does it do?

The Semantic Web is a term developed by Tim Berners-Lee. It involves a web-based machine directly and indirectly processing data. The term originated from the public contributions Allan M. Collins (cognitive scientist), M. Ross Quillian (linguist), and Elizabeth F. Loftus (psychologist). 

Inference is a process of logical thinking that derives its conclusion through the means of observation of patterns and the identification of meanings and contexts. In the Semantic Web, inference allows automated systems to think in the same manner as humans.

The Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) is the makeup protocol that facilitates communication across a network, such as the World Wide Web. The web address is the informal name of the uniform resource locator (URL) which is a commonly used URI. With the use of URLs, we can identify the URI's usefulness in accessing other resource areas across the Internet.

The Semantic Web Friendly format is also referred to as Semantic Publishing format. This format is one in which a website is enhanced with machine-readable RDF metadata (see image above). Such enhancement is used to improve interactivity, openness and usability. Scholarly publications are famous for its use as the Semantic Web Friendly format promotes ease of search within scholarly databases, among other functions.