We'll be starting a quick book study / discussion here at InfoAdvisors ITBoards of the book Semantic Web For Dummies by Jeff Pollock.  The study will have a special mailing list / conference on this board, so that we can have our discussion without drowning out any other conversations. I'll be setting up that conference shortly.

Why a For Dummies book?

• It's summer.  I will enjoy starting my reading about semantic technologies with lighter fare.
• My goal is to establish a literacy level of semantic web and modeling terms, notations, and methods.
• This will be the first of more books about semantics, ontologies, and semantic modeling.
• I'm hoping it will go faster than a more in-depth work.

Why Semantic Web?

• Much of the work involved in the Semantic Web and related technologies depends on understanding the meaning of concepts and building models about those concepts, then building systems that use those concepts.  Sound familiar?
• Much of the work in establishing standards for the Semantic Web and related technologies could really benefit from our experience in defining concepts (not just database object), rationalizing terms, negotiating disputes, documenting meanings, and general modeling foundations.  But we can be part of that if we don't know what Semantic Web is.
• Ontologies play a big part in the initial analysis of semantic solutions.  I believe that we in the data management community are in a great position to lend our experiences here.
• Understanding new technologies, notations, tools, and approaches is good for career management.  Meaning your career.

The Book is described here (affiliate link) http://www.infoadvisors.com/Bookstore/SemanticTechnologiesModelsandOntologies/tabid/443/Default.aspx (Amazon US)  If you are ordering this book, you might also want to pick up our next book study book,  Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist: Effective Modeling in RDFS and OWL http://astore.amazon.com/infoadvsiorsirmb-20/detail/0123735564 (affiliate link) at the same time because we will be starting that discussion right after the study of the Semantic Web for Dummies is complete.

Note that the book is available for the Kindle.  I don't see it available on Safari Online.  There is a sample chapter, Chapter 3: The Data Web at Work for Business, available at http://www.semanticuniverse.com/semanticwebfordummies .

Let's plan on starting the book discussions of content around 10 August 2009.   The book has 5 parts, so we'll tackle them by parts instead of just chapters.

Once you acquired your copy, go ahead and start reading. I think it will be a quick read, since most of these For Dummies books are fairly high level.   Please do reply to this post if you are planning on joining this discussion.

We have set up a conference/mailing list/newsgroup/web board for our book study on our Data Modeling board.  Free registration is required to access the Groups.  To create an account or to use your existing discussion groups account, visit the Data Modeling Board. If you'd like to subscribe to the mailing list for this book study, login to the Data Modeling Board, then go to OPTIONS / MY MAILING LIST and check the box for SemanticWebForDummiesBookStudy.

Looking forward to discussing this important data-related topic with all of you.