What’s the Next Big Thing on the Web? It May Be a Small, Simple Thing – Microformats

Ever since the world wide web exploded in the mid-1990s, attempts have been made to extend its basic presentation format to create a richer, more meaningful network of information. Internet users have envisioned a web that presents information that can not only be read by humans but also be understood by computers.

Why does that matter? The reason is that it could usher in entirely new ways of doing business. The web could evolve from a collection of loosely linked pages to an enormous database that could be searched and filtered and re-assembled in new ways.

For example, when someone views information on a web page about an upcoming concert, why can’t he instantly add it to his personal calendar? Or when a person’s contact information is displayed, why can’t it be added to a contact list or cell phone directory with a single click? The reason is that the HTML [hypertext markup language] tags used to display these items on the web don’t describe what they mean. If one web site links to another, the link doesn’t carry any information about why the sites are linked. But what if it did? And what if every event listed on a web page could also be read by software that could understand its date, time and location?

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