Wolfram|Alpha
http://www70.wolframalpha.com
Here's another innovation that I have to admit I don't totally understand - but it falls under the category of "semantic web." More or less.
Remember - the idea of the "semantic web" is to turn information bits on the web into objects that can be manipulated by the user in order to create knowledge. (If you think about a user click on a website as an information bit, the pattern of clicks, the path taken, the length of time spent on the page that results from a click - all this adds up to knowledge.)
Much knowledge is uncovered when information bits can be manipulated, correlated, searched on, compared...
And that's the point of Wolfram|Alpha.
Here's their rather geeky self-description: "Wolfram|Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.
Wolfram|Alpha aims to bring expert-level knowledge and capabilities to the broadest possible range of people—spanning all professions and education levels. Our goal is to accept completely free-form input, and to serve as a knowledge engine that generates powerful results and presents them with maximum clarity."
It might be most easily explained by giving you a f'rinstance.
I entered the value "Syracuse, NY" and hit the equal sign. Here's what I got:
city population | 139079 people
metro area population | 650786 people
A map showing the location.
Current local time:
10:15 am EDT | Thursday, June 25, 2009
Elevation:
397 ft
Nearby cities:
Ottawa,Ontario,Canada | 165 miles north | 874433 people
Toronto,Ontario,Canada | 168 miles west-northwest | 4.612 million people
Finally, check out the FAQs area of the website for a little more insight:
Is Wolfram|Alpha a search engine?
No. It's a computational knowledge engine: it generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links.
Is Wolfram|Alpha free to use?
Yes, it's free for personal noncommercial use. Subscriptions will be available in the near future with enhanced features for large-scale and commercial use.
Who is Wolfram|Alpha for?
Everyone! Its goal is to bring expert-level knowledge to everybody.
Here's another innovation that I have to admit I don't totally understand - but it falls under the category of "semantic web." More or less.
Remember - the idea of the "semantic web" is to turn information bits on the web into objects that can be manipulated by the user in order to create knowledge. (If you think about a user click on a website as an information bit, the pattern of clicks, the path taken, the length of time spent on the page that results from a click - all this adds up to knowledge.)
Much knowledge is uncovered when information bits can be manipulated, correlated, searched on, compared...
And that's the point of Wolfram|Alpha.
Here's their rather geeky self-description: "Wolfram|Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.
Wolfram|Alpha aims to bring expert-level knowledge and capabilities to the broadest possible range of people—spanning all professions and education levels. Our goal is to accept completely free-form input, and to serve as a knowledge engine that generates powerful results and presents them with maximum clarity."
It might be most easily explained by giving you a f'rinstance.
I entered the value "Syracuse, NY" and hit the equal sign. Here's what I got:
city population | 139079 people
metro area population | 650786 people
A map showing the location.
Current local time:
10:15 am EDT | Thursday, June 25, 2009
Elevation:
397 ft
Nearby cities:
Ottawa,Ontario,Canada | 165 miles north | 874433 people
Toronto,Ontario,Canada | 168 miles west-northwest | 4.612 million people
Finally, check out the FAQs area of the website for a little more insight:
Is Wolfram|Alpha a search engine?
No. It's a computational knowledge engine: it generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links.
Is Wolfram|Alpha free to use?
Yes, it's free for personal noncommercial use. Subscriptions will be available in the near future with enhanced features for large-scale and commercial use.
Who is Wolfram|Alpha for?
Everyone! Its goal is to bring expert-level knowledge to everybody.
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