Semantic Web Browser

What Does Semantic Web Browser Mean?

A semantic Web browser is a type of browser that is able to browse the semantic Web, an extension of the World Wide Web that works to link different data and data sources just as the regular Web links text. Semantic Web browsers can be standalone or made as lightweight extensions to standard Web browsers, giving the ability to surf the semantic Web.

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Semantic Web browsers are also known as hyperdata browsers.

Techopedia Explains Semantic Web Browser

Semantic Web browsers came about as a result of the W3C standards which created the semantic Web. Semantic Web was a term coined by Tim Berners-Lee for a web of interconnected data that can be processed by machines, a common framework that allows data to be reused and shared across different applications, enterprises and communities.

The semantic Web browser allows a user to navigate the interconnected web of data in much the same way that a standard Web browser allows the user to visit standard text sites through links. However, instead of the HTML document format, semantic Web browsers use the Resource Description Format (RDF), which is heavily reliant on metadata to define the semantics, or meanings, and definitions of data links. Because of this, semantic Web browsers are also called hyperdata browsers, which are analogous to hypertext browsers.

Examples of semantic Web browsers include:

  • Ripple
  • Zitgist
  • Marbles
  • Elda
  • Facet
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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…