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.
Semantic Web browsers are also known as hyperdata browsers.
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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