Are Semantic Experts Losing It?
October 4, 2010
I read “USA Needs More Educated Workforce; Semantic Web Technologies May Help Higher Ed Spend IT Dollars More Wisely To Support Getting There” and wondered how this idea can get from A to B. Now I am a fan of semantic technologies, but I have said that semantic plumbing needs to be hidden behind nicely painted wallboard. I am baffled about the logic of the core argument in this semantic cheerleading write up. Here’s a passage that stumped me:
The latest development on this front is the public launch, set for later this month, at the EDUCAUSE conference of the EdUnify SOA Governance Framework Initiative. EdUnify is described as a shared, neutral, community-based Web services registry and suite of semantic web tools designed to reduce costs of integration and improve efficiency by providing a service-oriented architecture governance framework for education.
Conceptually I see that there are benefits from semantic technology applied to education. The reality is one that is going leave semantic technology marginalized.
First, the present system is not working with large numbers of high school students abandoning their education. This means that the semantic payoff will be for the students who stay in school. My recollection of student who stay in school is that plain old teaching works reasonably well. Chasing technology fairy dust is interesting but not germane to getting reading, writing, and arithmetic in place and providing an environment in which to learn. How will semantic technology help those who drop out or fail to keep up with the bright kids?
Second, the financial situation is pretty grim. The notion of a top down semantic solution is fun to discuss, but the situation in schools is that some basics are now shifted from the school to the teacher. For example, at the start of the school year in Kentucky, students were asked to bring supplies that the school once provided. Hey, no one asked me to bring a ream of copy paper to the first day of school.
Third, the big top down, technology fixes have not worked. I remember going to the middle school where my wife taught for many years and found only one working PC in the computer lab. Sure, the presence of computers is a great idea, but the infrastructure to keep these gizmos working, training teachers in what to have students do with the computers, and the battle of wits between computer savvy kids and lagging teachers makes many such technology fixes a joke.
Semantic technology is plumbing. Where it can be integrated to improve content processing and information retrieval, great. Positioning semantic technology as part of a giant, top down program leaves me baffled. Thank goodness I am 66 and too old to have to worry about this sort of thinking. The write up shows some connection with reality, but the core notion strikes me as something wild and crazy.
Stephen E Arnold, October 4, 2010
Freebie
Comments
One Response to “Are Semantic Experts Losing It?”
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
Another side is the issue of the hardware user interface used by the student. What seems missing in this type of discussion, semantic or otherwise, is the pedagogical element – within the IT framework – that actually creates the integrated and accredited educational and now more often technological solution that helps teach students at their level – particularly at the K-12 level. The “educational” hype – without the education – is good for the conference goers and maybe the government money machine but anyone searching for it can actually find a working digital teaching platform.