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the record · 2007 · selected writing

Introduction to the semantics of people and culture (editorial preface)

Hugo Liu & Pattie Maes (2007). International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems, Special Issue on Semantics of People and Culture (Eds. H. Liu & P. Maes) 3(1), Idea Group.

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This editorial preface contrasts an over-architected formal Semantic Web with meanings people already grow through tags, ratings, profiles, and communities. Its principle of semantical ergonomics asks systems to make annotation immediately useful, learn from off-label behavior, and interpret a tag within its social setting. Three themes organize the issue: the politics of tagging as a strategic public act; subjectivity, where collaborative filtering and trust localize truth rather than forcing one global answer; and cultural inheritance, where shared defaults help translate knowledge across communities. Examples and findings come from the four papers introduced in the issue, not new experiments by the editors. “Cultural modules” and programmatic inheritance remain explanatory proposals, but the agenda is concrete: human meaning is situated, participatory, and inseparable from people.

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