May 10 2010

Is The Semantic Web A Synonym for Time Travel?

I am a romantic agnostic. I doubt much, but fervently wish that fairy tales would come true. Perhaps that is why I am so drawn to the idea of the Semantic Web . That and the fact that I research for a living. The exponential growth in on-line data, content creation and linking is staring us Web searchers straight in the face. I am guessing that most of us, professional and amateur alike, would love to lay their hands on that particular protocol that cuts through the infinite virtual warehouse and returns, on the first try, the data it knows you are seeking.

I am still holding out for this “impossible dream.” I do think it could evolve. Check out the awesome documentary below by Kate Ray with its “star” studded Semantic cast, and let me know if you do too. Hat tip to Jolie O’Dell at Mashable (link here).

The Semantic Web: What It Is and Why It Matters

May 10 2010

Get Your Writing Style On!

: Image by delgrosso via Flickr

One search. Forty-nine Style Guides! OnlineStylebooks (link here) is a one-stop micro search engine for writing style guides. Created by Mary Beth Protomastro, who describes:

OnlineStylebooks.com is owned and operated by Mary Beth Protomastro, who has been reading stylebooks since high school. The founder of Copyediting newsletter, she is the copy chief of More magazine and was editor of the Time magazine stylebook. OnlineStylebooks.com is not affiliated with any of those publications.

Mary Beth created OnlineStylebooks.com to help copy editors (including herself) quickly consult a variety of style guides. If you know of a manual that’s on the Internet but not on OnlineStylebooks.com, please tell Mary Beth!

You can enter a search query, or browse style books alphabetically or by subject. The home page also displays a featured style rule – today’s rule is the difference between “repertoire” and “repertory.” Do you know the difference? Check out the link here.

Hat tip to Ray Ward at the (new) legal writer (link here), who hat tips John McIntyre at Language Log (link here).