What would it look like if we were to situate young people in the growing semantic web? A 2007 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) took a look at some of the data mining programs currently underway at the Department of Homeland Security. In their report, GAO offer a “Typical Semantic Graph” which represents the “data relationships and linkages” of a particular “person of interest” which can now be generated through a process called “semantic graphing.” GAO’s report defines semantic graphing as “a data modeling technique that uses a combination of ‘nodes,’ representing specific entities, and connecting lines, representing the relationships among them.”

So what might a “Typical Semantic Graph” for a young person of interest look like? Part work, part play - here is GAO’s “typical semantic graph for a person of interest” compared to my “typical semantic graph for a young person of interest”: