December 13, 2004
Mapping weblog conversations through semantic markup
James Tauber proposes the use of more semantic markup to allow the meaningful mapping of conversations spanning multiple weblogs:
what if citation indices were annotated with the relationship between the newer publication and what it was citing? You could have relationships like "quotes", "summarises", "provides further evidence for", "argues against", "answers question posed by", and so on. (...) People could link to this entry with annotations like "agree", "agree with additional ideas", "agree with caveats", "seen something like this already", "really dumb idea with reasons stated". (...) Kind of an XFN for memes.
One can only wonder why XHTML Meta Data Profiles, the fantastic plan behind XFN, hasn't spawned more ideas like that. When I first encountered XMDP I was just smitten by the simplicity and unintrusiveness with which XMDP allowed to spray bits of semantic pixie dust wherever you need it. I don't think any other piece of web technology ever felt so right at first sight.
Yet wide adoption of XMDP-based markup failed to appear. Web community, what is wrong with you?
Update: The earlier "Tracking weblog conversations" entry you used to find here managed to completely miss the point of Tauber's proposal. Thanks Yoz for helping me with what should have been obvious.
