ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the main benefits of the Semantic Web, including its use in data integration and repurposing, classification, and control. Semantic Web technologies can reduce costs and improve the accuracy of integration by making these semantic differences explicit in ontologies, so the impact on a user’s application can be seen. A benefit of semantic technologies is in the reuse of data for purposes other than the reason for which it was originally collected. Semantic technologies benefit the internal business processes of organizations that collect or publish their own content. The main benefit of Linked Data is that it provides a standardized way of publishing data on the Web that makes it easier to find. The chapter also explains the relationship between the traditional Web of documents and Web of Knowledge that the Semantic Web represents. Recent trends in Semantic Web technologies have taken several different avenues.
