The Semantic Web : Service discovery and provenance in my Grid

The vision of the Semantic Web (SW) is one “in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation.” (Berners-Lee et al., 2001). It emphasises the decentralised and autonomous nature of the data over which it operates, as well as the complexity of this data. At first sight this seems to fit extremely well with the requirements of the life sciences. The nature of the area makes extreme complexity the rule rather than the exception. Moreover, the history of the subject has ensured that most resources are decentralised and autonomous. On the face of it then, SW technologies offer a good technological solution for some of the difficulties of the Life Sciences, while the Life Sciences offer a perfect use-case for Semantic Web. Here we discuss two applications that have used semantic web technology and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this technology, as well as its implications.