Personally, I think the integration of your academic studies into your life is a fabulous thing. I believe that is what I established when I was a graduate student, with a full time job and two kids, even before the days of online courses. Of course, then it was much more difficult to have seamless integration, because of travel and place.

Now that my work life is totally online, I do not differentiate it from any other part of my life. I never shut it off, but then I never shut off any other part of my life. I have had discussions with online colleagues, who believe, and perhaps it's true, that they work 9-to-5 Monday to Friday. I can't understand this approach. I organize so much of my work when trying to get to sleep at night or when I'm walking or driving somewhere that it is impossible to separate work from life. Why bother trying?

So what I am saying, from my perspective, is that you are very fortunate that you are able to integrate (and in this sense it doesn't seem like the right word) so many aspects of your life. It is enriching.

I have met Dragan and am actually a colleague of his in TEKRI but I also find the semantic web a mystery. So I went to the bible of all Knowledge , Wikipedia and found this definition:

Semantics (from Greek sēmantiká, neuter plural of sēmantikós)^[1][2] is the study of meaning. It typically focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata.

Linguistic semantics is the study of meaning that is used by humans to express themselves through language. Other forms of semantics include the semantics of programming languages, formal logics, and semiotics.

I believe that I understand somewhat what they are trying to do but how????

I also think it is a much bigger thing in Europe than in Canada. Maybe Dragan or someone with know how will respond.

The semantic web seems to be one of those ideas that keeps getting mentioned as "the next big thing" and "just around the corner." So far, it has yet to develop in a meaningful way (as far as I've been able to tell). I understand the concept behind and what the ultimate goal is, but it doesn't seem to me like the implementation is practical at this point.

I do know that there is work being done in artificial intelligence that may be able to eventually help create a semantic web, but my understanding is that it's no where near the stage of being a workable solution.

I like the idea, but I'll believe it when I see it.

That said, it's a fascinating area of research even to someone like me who is little more than a layman in the field.

Tanya,

I had momentarily thought of being a part of this course but decided, A. I didn't have the time and B. these MOOC courses are difficult for "goal directed" people like me.

I will follow the happenings through your blog if you keep at it ;-)

Have fun learning.