http://www.openlinksw.com/GData/127/1565/2
Kingsley Idehen's Blog Data Space
2009-11-23T12:35:36Z
Kingsley Uyi Idehen
kidehen@openlinksw.com
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http://www.openlinksw.comhttp://www.openlinksw.com/dataspace/kidehen@openlinksw.com/weblog/kidehen@openlinksw.com%27s%20BLOG%20%5B127%5D/1565
<h3>What is <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Linked_Data" id="link-id138c9aa8">Linked Data</a>?</h3> <p> The primary topic of a <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Meme" id="link-id12f86100">meme</a> penned by <a href="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#i" id="link-id115b4c98">TimBL</a> in the form of a <a href="http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html" id="link-id1333f300">Design Issues Doc</a> (note: this is how TimBL has shared his thoughts since the <a href="http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/" id="link-id1128a1d0">Beginning of the Web</a>). </p> <p> There are a number of dimensions to the meme, but its primary purpose is the reintroduction of the HTTP <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Uniform_Resource_Identifier" id="link-id13c43cb8">URI</a> -- a vital component of the Web's core architecture. </p> <h3> What's Special about HTTP URIs?</h3> <p> They possess an intrinsic duality that combines persistent and unambiguous <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Data">Data</a> Identity with platform & representation format independent Data Access. Thus, you can use a string of characters that look like a contemporary Web <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Uniform_Resource_Locator" id="link-id119cd8a0">URL</a> to unambiguously achieve the following: </p> <ol> <li>Identity or Name Anything of Interest</li> <li>Describe Anything of Interest by associating the Description Subject's Identity with a constellation of Attribute and Value pairs (technically: an <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Entity-attribute-value_model" id="link-id1133e8a8">Entity</a>-Attribute-Value or Subject-Predicate-Object graph)</li> <li>Make the Description of Named Things of Interest discoverable on the Web by implicitly binding the aforementioned to Documents that hold their descriptions (technically: metadata documents or <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Information" id="link-id1391da40">information</a> resources)</li> </ol> <h3>What's the basic value proposition of the <a href="http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html" id="link-id113bb690">Linked Data meme</a>?</h3> <p>Enabling more productive use of the Web by users and developers alike. All of which is achieved by tweaking the Web's Hyperlinking feature such that it now includes Hypertext and <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Linked_Data" id="link-id1337a3f0">Hyperdata</a> as link types.</p> <p>Note: Hyperdata Linking is simply what an HTTP URI facilitates.</p> <p>Examples problems solved by injecting Linked Data into the Web:</p> <ol> <li>Federated Identity by enabling Individuals to unambiguously Identify themselves (Profiles++) courtesy of existing <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Internet" id="link-id13926e28">Internet</a> and Web protocols (e.g., <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Friend_of_a_friend" id="link-id13646ec8">FOAF</a>+SSL's WebIDs which combine Personal Identity with X.509 certificates and HTTPs based client side certification)</li> <li>Security and Privacy challenge alleviation by delivering a mechanism for policy based data access that feeds off federated individual identity and social network (graph) traversal</li> <li>Spam Busting via the above</li>. <li> Increasing the Serendipitous Discovery Quotient (SDQ) of Web accessible resources by embedding Rich Metadata into (X)HTML Documents e.g., structured descriptions of your "WishLists" and "OfferLists" via a common set of terms offered by vocabularies such as <a href="http://www.heppnetz.de/projects/goodrelations/" id="link-id1199b4d0">GoodRelations</a> and <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/SIOC" id="link-id1334cfb0">SIOC</a> </li> <li>Coherent integration of disparate data across the Web and/or within the Enterprise via "Data Meshing" rather than "Data Mashing"</li> <li>Moving beyond imprecise statistically driven "Keyword Search" (e.g. Page Rank) to "Precision Find" driven by typed link based <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Entity" id="link-id135f6fe8">Entity</a> Rank plus Entity Type and Entity Property filters.</li> </ol> <h3>Conclusion</h3> <p>If all of the above still falls into the technical mumbo-jumbo realm, then simply consider Linked Data as delivering Open Data Access in granular form to Web accessible data -- that goes beyond data containers (documents or files).</p> <p>The value proposition of Linked Data is inextricably linked to the value proposition of the <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/World_Wide_Web" id="link-id1356f5c0">World Wide Web</a>. This is true, because the Linked Data meme is ultimately about an enhancement of the current Web; achieved by reintroducing its architectural essence -- in new <a href="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Context_%28language_use%29" id="link-id11300828">context</a> -- via a new level of link abstraction, courtesy of the Identity and Access duality of HTTP URIs.</p> <p>As a result of Linked Data, you can now have Links on the Web for a Person, Document, Music, Consumer Electronics, Products & Services, Business Opening & Closing Hours, Personal "WishLists" and "OfferList", an Idea, etc.. in addition to links for Properties (Attributes & Values) of the aforementioned. Ultimately, all of these links will be indexed in a myriad of ways providing the substrate for the next major period of Internet & Web driven innovation, within our larger human-ingenuity driven innovation continuum.</p> <h3>Related</h3> <ul> <li> <a href="http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/wiki/GoodRelations#Recipes_and_Examples" id="link-id11386648">Recipes for Describing Your Business and its Offerings using the GoodRelations Vocabulary / Schema</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://slidesix.com/view/SolvingRealProblemsUsingLinkedData" id="link-id13658ee0">Solving Real Problems with RDF based Linked Data</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://www.openlinksw.com/weblog/public/search.vspx?blogid=127&q=linked%20data&type=text&output=html" id="link-id1175a650">Other Linked Data Posts from this Blog oriented Linked Data Space</a> (goes back a few years!)</li> <li>Various practical <a href="http://delicious.com/kidehen/linked_data_demo" id="link-id13390cf8">Linked Data demo links from my Del.icio.us Bookmark oriented Data Space</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://myopenlink.net/dataspace/person/kidehen#this" id="link-id132cda80">My personal WebID</a> which is conduit to a Linked Data mesh covering vast variety of things I've opted to share with others via the Web (best viewed using a Linked Data aware User Agent like ODE).</li> </ul>
Exploring the Value Proposition of Linked Data
2009-07-24T12:20:01Z
2009-07-24T08:20:01-04:00
Kingsley Uyi Idehen
kidehen@openlinksw.com