Giant Global Graph
Encyclopedia
Giant Global Graph is a name coined by the inventor of the World Wide Web
, Tim Berners-Lee
in 2007, to help distinguish between the nature and significance of the content on the existing World Wide Web
, and that of the next-generation web, or "Web 3.0". In common usage, World Wide Web refers primarily to a web of discrete information objects readable by human beings, with functional linkages provided between them by human-created Hyperlinks. Next-generation Web 3.0 information designs go beyond the discrete web pages of previous generations by emphasizing the Metadata
which describe information objects like web pages and attribute the relationships that conceptually or semantically link the information objects to each other. Additionally, Web 3.0 technologies and designs enable the organization of entirely new kinds of human- and machine-created data objects.
An important related concept that overlaps with Giant Global Graph without fully encompassing it is that of the "Semantic Web"
.
Social Networking services are one of the earliest and best-known examples of this distinction. In a Social Network, the information about relationships between people, and the kinds of data objects those people share, is at least as important as the data objects themselves. Plus, participants in a Social Network create new kinds of data that did not exist on the web before, such as their Likes for other people's comments and content. Currently, these new kinds of data are primarily structured and mediated by the proprietary systems of companies like Facebook
. In the ideal future of the decentralized Giant Global Graph or Semantic Web, such information would be structured in such a way that it could be readable by many different systems and dynamically organized into many different user-readable formats.
The GGG concept also relates to the Decentralization of Internet Information, whereby properly-formatted semantic web data objects can be organized and their relationships discerned by any computer on the Internet, rather than solely being organized by large centralized systems such as Facebook and Google. For instance, people using the FOAF
protocol to organize information on websites or other Internet nodes can define and interact with their social networks without necessarily requiring the intervention of centralized systems like Facebook.
Crucially, where the term Web 3.0 refers to a suite of technologies and to a particular phase in the development of the web, the term Giant Global Graph is intended to refer more generally to the total environment of information that will be generated and sustained through the implementation of these technologies. This environment will be a qualitatively different one than that which existed before the development of these technologies.
, Tim Berners-Lee
, on his blog.
Tim Berners-Lee thinks about the social network
itself that is inside and between social-network Web sites such as Facebook
. He assumes that people can use the word "Graph" to distinguish these from the "Web". Then he says that, although he called this graph the Semantic Web
, maybe it should have been called the "Giant Global Graph".
"GGG" has been used several times by Berners-Lee and by others in other blogs. GGG may be described as the content plus pointers of the WWW transitioning to content plus pointers plus relationships plus descriptions.
Significantly, the Giant Global Graph concept seems to have been a significant input in Facebook's concept and name for their "Open Graph" project and protocol, which is their effort to spread their approach to social networking beyond the bounds of the Facebook website, allowing a broader network or "graph" of connections between Facebook users, and between Facebook users and the Internet data objects which interest them.
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, Tim Berners-Lee
Tim Berners-Lee
Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web...
in 2007, to help distinguish between the nature and significance of the content on the existing World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, and that of the next-generation web, or "Web 3.0". In common usage, World Wide Web refers primarily to a web of discrete information objects readable by human beings, with functional linkages provided between them by human-created Hyperlinks. Next-generation Web 3.0 information designs go beyond the discrete web pages of previous generations by emphasizing the Metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
which describe information objects like web pages and attribute the relationships that conceptually or semantically link the information objects to each other. Additionally, Web 3.0 technologies and designs enable the organization of entirely new kinds of human- and machine-created data objects.
An important related concept that overlaps with Giant Global Graph without fully encompassing it is that of the "Semantic Web"
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
.
Social Networking services are one of the earliest and best-known examples of this distinction. In a Social Network, the information about relationships between people, and the kinds of data objects those people share, is at least as important as the data objects themselves. Plus, participants in a Social Network create new kinds of data that did not exist on the web before, such as their Likes for other people's comments and content. Currently, these new kinds of data are primarily structured and mediated by the proprietary systems of companies like Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. In the ideal future of the decentralized Giant Global Graph or Semantic Web, such information would be structured in such a way that it could be readable by many different systems and dynamically organized into many different user-readable formats.
The GGG concept also relates to the Decentralization of Internet Information, whereby properly-formatted semantic web data objects can be organized and their relationships discerned by any computer on the Internet, rather than solely being organized by large centralized systems such as Facebook and Google. For instance, people using the FOAF
FOAF (software)
FOAF is a machine-readable ontology describing persons, their activities and their relations to other people and objects. Anyone can use FOAF to describe him or herself...
protocol to organize information on websites or other Internet nodes can define and interact with their social networks without necessarily requiring the intervention of centralized systems like Facebook.
Crucially, where the term Web 3.0 refers to a suite of technologies and to a particular phase in the development of the web, the term Giant Global Graph is intended to refer more generally to the total environment of information that will be generated and sustained through the implementation of these technologies. This environment will be a qualitatively different one than that which existed before the development of these technologies.
History
Giant Global Graph' (GGG) was notably used the first time by the inventor of the World Wide WebWorld Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, Tim Berners-Lee
Tim Berners-Lee
Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web...
, on his blog.
Tim Berners-Lee thinks about the social network
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
itself that is inside and between social-network Web sites such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. He assumes that people can use the word "Graph" to distinguish these from the "Web". Then he says that, although he called this graph the Semantic Web
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
, maybe it should have been called the "Giant Global Graph".
"GGG" has been used several times by Berners-Lee and by others in other blogs. GGG may be described as the content plus pointers of the WWW transitioning to content plus pointers plus relationships plus descriptions.
Significantly, the Giant Global Graph concept seems to have been a significant input in Facebook's concept and name for their "Open Graph" project and protocol, which is their effort to spread their approach to social networking beyond the bounds of the Facebook website, allowing a broader network or "graph" of connections between Facebook users, and between Facebook users and the Internet data objects which interest them.