The Economist published a short article about the Semantic Web today, picking up on apps we've covered here many times - like Reuters Open Calais, Twine, Hakia and AdaptiveBlue. But one app right at the end caught my eye, as I'd not heard of it before: Qitera. Its homepage describes it as "a next-generation information engine - a semantic web service that connects everything you know to everything you read." The company is German, but based in San Francisco. Qitera is currently in private beta, so it's hard to know what this app does. But it sounds a lot like Twine.
Here is a further explanation from their website:
"Qitera is a web service empowering you to build and access your personal knowledge (the geeks call it “knowledge graph”). So you can organize, remix and search all the data dealing with the companies, business partners, friends or projects you track in a more productive way. Additionally, we let you share your wisdom with your peers and publish to blogs, websites and cell phones."
There is little mention of Qitera on Technorati, Google, or other sources. I did however find a slideshow on Slideshare, which featured this graphic illustrating its open standards support:
Below is the full slideshow. Let us know in the comments if you've seen Qitera in action - and if so what did you think? Meantime I've applied for a beta pass to check it out.
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Noticed it at the Economist article just a minute ago.
Posted by: Tal Keinan | April 10, 2008 4:17 AMDid a google search and lended here. Like you, I also signed up to their beta program, and I hope to learn more about their offering.
Richard, Have you ever noticed that Twine, Quitura and nearly everybody else use the word "Graph" or actually use mind map looking images to describe what they are trying to get across?
Thats because way before there was a Semantic Web - there were Semantic Networks - and Semantic Networks are essentially Mind Maps. Its all about the Mind, Richard - not about the Semantic Web. Extending and connecting our minds via the internet thats what Web 3.0 is going to be about.
The foundational vision for how this needs to be done properly was not Tim Berners Lee and his vision of the Semantic Web but Vannever Bush and his vision of the Memex
Take a look at the visionary article "As we may Think" which Vannever Bush wrote in 1945 and which inspired the likes of Douglas Englebart, Alan Kay and others with his concept of the Memex where he imagined a device which works in the natural way that the mind does - by association and not linear indexing.
The trails of thought of one individual would be connected to related book marked information - and those thought trails would be connected to the thought trails of others ad infinitum.
I include the link to the page where he starts talking about the Memex and it continues for one more page.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush/4
At Imindi we have actually built a "Thought Engine" which is essentially our 21st century way of describing a "Memex"
which is beautiful, powerful, radiant and works "As we may Think"
Check out the blog and feel free to contact me if you would like more information.
http://imindi.typepad.com/imindisaid/
http://www.imindi.com/pages/255
http://www.imindi.com/journeys/382-semantic-web/maps/3195157-companies
Posted by: Adam Lindemann | April 10, 2008 7:16 AMI notice that it sounds like our name Quintura :)
Posted by: Yakov | April 10, 2008 7:31 AMIs Q-like name getting popular among semantic search companies?
Cool... though not too impressively creative.. natural trend.
Posted by: 113.com | April 10, 2008 8:11 AMI signed up for my beta invite - it definitely looks interesting.
Posted by: Sarah PerezInteresting. Sounds like a potential solution for what I've been calling "knowledge networking".
http://abovethenoise.blogspot.com/2007/10/more-on-knowledge-networking.html
Posted by: Perry Mizota | April 10, 2008 10:34 AMrichard,
you asked for people who have seen qitera in action. well, i did :-)
our mission is to bring consumer applications and semantic web together. So we developed a very flexible and dynamic platform that connects pretty much everything with anything. people, companies, geolocations, timelines etc. On top of that we are now building our first product which is very easy but also joyful to use.
invitations for beta will be send out soon,
Posted by: Joerg | April 10, 2008 4:15 PMjoerg