"The initial layers of the Semantic Web stack are complete, and we're looking at the ways that those standards can apply to a very specific discipline," Daly said.

Those layers include XML as a syntax layer; next, a Resource Description Framework (RDF) to provide machine-readable descriptions of data that can be parsed; and a third layer, OWL (Web Ontology Language), to combine ontologies, or descriptions of specialized knowledge on the Web.

There may be other Semantic Web-related groups formed by W3C pertaining to other industries, Daly said. "It's possible to imagine seeing it in other industries, but this is really our first test."

Earlier this month, as part of its Semantic Web effort, W3C formed the Rule Interchange Format (RIF) Working Group, which is chartered to produce a language for the exchange of rules and their transfer between rules systems. Rules are being defined as executable pieces of declarative knowledge that are important in managing complex and dynamic operations.