[uf-discuss] spread/marketing

[Alex Piner]

> I'm not even sure it is the right message.
>
> To be frank, IMHO the term "semantic web" has far too much baggage that
> would likely drag any effort that uses it, whether using microformats or RDF
> etc.

I can see that.
Part of the idea of spreadsemweb is clarification of what it is, and
how one could get involved with it immediately via SIOC, or SIMILE,
or, ahem, Microformats

> It also misses the point of the specific focus of microformats, which is not
> actually semantics (because the semantics are there, readable to humans
> typically), but to markup *existing* semantics such that the overall content
> can be published and consumed in higher fidelity.

Yes, that higher fidelity is reachable via any webmaster, as the
Microformats team have allowed it to. Very Good.

It directly relates to semweb, as a "human readable" format vs. a
"machine/semweb" is not antagonistic ( i think)
Microformats calls out the "problems of machine readable content
initiatives" by taking a Human approach. I think this is the same
goal, as you have said , mF is the (s)emantic Web. The goal of aiding
human utility on the Web.

So while technically it can be argued that they are 2 different
things, that fact that Microformats addressing the "Semantic Web
problem" in the way it does, by saying "lets work with what we have
already, instead of waiting for this dream of a Semantic Web" is
closely related enough to me to try to get a community involved.

Perhaps I am wrong, it seems very similar to me....

> > So is this the best place for pure marketing messages?
> >
> > Or is this frowned upon?
>
> IMHO pure marketing tends to be frowned upon in general.

Earlier I had the bradaggio  of "rolling up the sleeves and diving into markup"
to facilitate a SIOC-mF "bridge.
Markup is a challenge for me, so I may not be able to contribute to
the "ground war".

That is why I called it "pure marketing" , as I cannot contribute (now
at least) to the technical specifications..

> That being said, I think we have had some fun with t-shirts, magnifiers,
> desktop images etc., and if folks want to help create more such items for
> the community, by all means, feel free to discuss that here.

Love the shirts, is there a goodstorm alternative?

> As far as marketing *messages* though, there should be a core
> practical/pragmatic purpose and utility in the message, and when there is,
> it will spread by itself.  No need to "market" it.

Understood.

Tantek, I appreciate all the work you have done for "Open Data" ,
since Apple IE CSS user agent conformance to Microformats.

Keep up the Great Work.

Alex
http://spreadthesemanticweb.com