The classical composer browser

Just as the original World Wide Web links documents with other documents, the Semantic Web links data with other data. It is the next step in the evolution of the web towards the creation of an 'intelligent web' where the web starts to understand the material it is made up of.

Some of that linked data on the Semantic Web is about music, so scientists at the Centre for Digital Music at Queen Mary have been working out the best ways to describe and interact with such music-related data. One interface allows users to visually explore the connections of influence between classical composers. Because the work of Fredrick Chopin had an influence on the work of Claude Debussy, we have a connection between these two composers. Such connections can be used to create a "composer space" where similar composers are found nearer to each other in the visual picture of the composer space. An interested listener can then follow the connections between composers that are near to each other to learn about new and interesting music.

Browsing the musical web is about to get a whole lot cleverer!