One reason for the slow acceptance of the Semantic Web is
the lack of simple, straightforward, and attractive end-user showcases.
Interest from end-users is an essential driving force of all web technolo-
gies. In this position paper we propose active semantic spaces (ASpaces)
as a possible showcase. An ASpace is built on a combination of Semantic
Web technologies, service agent technologies, and Web 2.0 technologies.
Semantic Web technologies support producing machine-processable con-
tent on ASpaces. Service-agent technologies support proactive machine
agents on ASpaces that communicate with both their human users and
their peers. Web 2.0 technologies support friendly user interaction and
the capability of dynamically collecting remote feedback from ASpace
agents. By combining these technologies together, users can issue per-
sonal requests to ASpace agents, which then look for answers on other
ASpaces. ASpace agents automatically blog results back to users as if
they had come from remote human users. This showcase is an example
of bridging the gap between the Semantic Web and Web 2.0.