The web is ablaze with chatter from this week’s Semantic Technology Conference. One article states, “That semantic technologies are no longer purely niche is proven not only by the increasing number of diverse companies present, and by the rich number of case studies that crowd the agenda (pharmaceutical and financial markets for now are the leaders) but also by the fact that the San Francisco event is just one of three editions of the conference this year. The first European edition will be held in London in September, followed by the Washington D.C. event in October, focusing on applications devoted to government organizations.” Read more

On Saturday, I once again board a plane from London to San Francisco; the first of two trips to the city in June, and my fourth (or possibly fifth?) time attending the Semantic Technology Conference.

The conference itself is in its seventh year, and now seems settled into its San Francisco home after a number of years further down the Bay in San Jose. As in previous years, the programme is rich, varied, and packed with so many parallel tracks that it can at first seem daunting for both newcomers and old hands alike. In a bid to make things a bit easier for people, we’re gathering the friendly team from the monthly Semantic Link podcast, and sticking them up on stage on Sunday evening to pick out their highlights for the week ahead. I’m sure they’ll also offer hints and tips for navigating the corridors and session rooms, and possibly even flag up the best of the secret roof-top parties. Read more

According to a recent article, “The BBC’s R&D department unveiled an interesting take on the traditional electronic programming guide (EPG) this week that allows viewers to search for people, places and things across tens of thousands of movies and TV show episodes. Channelography is based on captions of close to 170,000 pieces of programming shown across the BBC’s nine U.K.-wide TV networks, which can be searched for close to 100,000 data entities.” Read more