{"id":742815,"date":"2013-03-21T10:03:27","date_gmt":"2013-03-21T14:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=622770"},"modified":"2013-03-21T10:03:27","modified_gmt":"2013-03-21T14:03:27","slug":"why-nuance-sees-the-semantic-web-as-a-key-to-smarter-natural-language-interfaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/742815","title":{"rendered":"Why Nuance sees the semantic web as a key to smarter natural language interfaces"},"content":{"rendered":"

Natural language user interfaces \u2013 think Siri \u2013 promise to revolutionize everything from call-centers to hospitals, but what about their data sources? How do the companies and organizations deploying them ensure real choice, rather than just assuming a certain one or two sources will do the job? These are questions that came up today at GigaOM\u2019s Structure:Data<\/a> conference in New York and, according to Nuance Communications CTO Vlad Sejnoha, the answer may lie in the semantic web.<\/p>

The semantic web, a term coined by Tim Berners-Lee, is an initiative being developed under the auspices of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It aims, through the use of standardized tags and formats, to build a framework where content on the web has machine-understandable meaning, rather than simply being searchable by keyword.<\/p>

Asked by GigaOM Research analyst George Gilbert how best to tap a variety of information repositories without having to \u201chardwire\u201d the language interface into each one separately, Sejnoha said the answer lies in an open approach:<\/p>

\u201cThe conversation stack\u2026 has to interact with content sources, other services, applications and devices. Today, integrating those interfaces into those resources is a one-off job. Some applications on the market make choices on behalf of the user, and this brings important questions about openness. I do think the promise of the semantic web remains very important there.<\/p>

\u201cI hope we get to the point where people who have important services or content on the web publish them in standard formats that we can connect to and [use] almost automatically\u2026 I am hopeful that this will gain greater support in the industry as these folks realize without something like this the interface might become opaque to new entrants.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

However, Gilbert demurred, suggesting that incumbents have \u201cno incentive to make a common interface.\u201d<\/p>

Check out\u00a0the rest of our Structure:Data 2013 coverage here<\/a>, and a video embed of the session follows below:<\/p>