The Semantic Web Environmental Directory (SWED) is a prototype of a new kind of directory of environmental organisations and projects. The initial development of this portal was funded by the European Union as part of the project Called Semantic Web Advanced Development - Europe (SWAD-E). Our goal was to create a prototype of a sustainable (realistically maintainable) and easy to use directory about environmental organisations and projects throughout the UK.

How is SWED different? - Rather than centralising the storage, management and ownership of the information, in SWED the organisations and projects themselves hold and maintain their own information. The information is published on their web sites. SWED simply 'harvests' that information and uses it to create the directory.

Although the project was completed in Oct 2004 we have kept the website running since 1) it is a useful demonstration prototype and 2) it is the primary output from the SWED project. However we are not maintaining the site on a day to day basis. If you have have any questions about SWED, see our see our about SWED pages or contact the appropriate person via our contacts page)