This is the third post in the Semantic Web series. This entry is about the incentives to create meta data. For the publisher, the only/major benefit is to generate greater revenue. Consequently, no one on the web adds meta data unless they see dollars. On some web sites you are not allowed to unsubscribe because then your meta data can not be resold/repurposed. Your meta data represents "you", the person. So they have "you" even if you leave them.

That's why each and every credible Semantic Web community is unrelenting in its boasts of collecting user data as a means to generate revenue. A strong meta data implementation enables this far more than a normal customer database can.

Can we motivate web users to create meta data beyond their personal information?

We believe so. In the <alt> Semantic Web implementation, meta data creation is a by-product of Mashup creation. As users extract snippets of remote content, they build meta data which describes the content. This works because the data is important to them. Maybe not to me or you, but to the Mashup user it is.

Just like some people like certain online videos and others don't.

Here's a concrete example using our developer tools. Way back in 2003, when we starting building our Mashup tools, Sun ran this little overview of our tools. In this screen shot, the user decides to semantically extract a list of Wi-Fi coffee shops in San Jose.

Nowadays, a meta data file is created describing the list of coffee shops. In a future post, I'll describe how our meta data is executable and active unlike in the traditional Semantic Web.

But, back to the coffee shop list. This Mashup and consequently the meta data that is used is of benefit to San Jose Wi-Fi using, coffee drinkers. But not to the majority of web users.

Furthermore, we can see that ads take up most of the page real estate because the site publisher is an intermediary. Consequently, we cannot expect this publisher to create meta data devoid of ads. I have more trust in other Wi-Fi using, coffee drinkers. Or even better, I can author my own Mashup and manage my own meta data.

Our approach to enabling user-managed meta data parallels the real world in many ways. For example, just about every organization, group, or social network will provide their own list of "places of interest", directions, and facts. These are, by definition, mash-ups from various data sources customized to their particulars. They could just say "go map it" but most create or repurpose because they want to support their community, employees, and friends.

We believe the creation of Mashups is an adequate incentive to create meta data. And, since the meta data is automatically generated during Mashup creation-- there is limited additional work unlike in the traditional Semantic Web.