Sindice.com - The Semantic Web Index

The term “Semantic Web” refers to the reusable pieces of information that can be found on the Internet today. This data comes mostly from Web 2.0 websites, and the expression “Web of Data” is also employed along with “Semantic Web” in order to describe this large (and ever-increasing) collection of information ready to be employed and consumed by the public at large. What this new resource aims to do is let anybody access this data and use it in the best possible way in order to engage customers and provide them with more interesting content.

The aim of the site, then, is to let webmasters aggregate semantic data and use it to their advantage. For example, it can be employed to compose advertisements or target the existing ones better. Although Sindice is still in early beta, robust search functionalities are already in place for you to look up not only keywords and URLs but also property-value pair lookups. Advanced searches are likewise included, and they will enable you to express complex requests. This functionality makes employing triple patterns (a combination of wildcard symbols, operators and group constructors) a more accessible task.

“Over 10 billion pieces of reusable information can already be found across 100 million web pages which embed RDF and Microformats. Start consuming this data today with Sindice Data Web services.”

The Internet is brimming with information that could and should be employed to your own benefit. This project makes such information accessible, and it provides a comprehensive set of tutorials and guides for everybody to start delving into.

How knowledgeable must you be in order to make the best of a service such as this one? Will the general public benefit from it?