Based on the prevalence of confusion re. the Linked Data meme, here are a few important points to remember about the World Wide Web.

  1. Its an HTTP based Network Cluster within the Internet (remember: Networks are about meshes of Nodes connected by Links)
  2. Its underlying data model is that of a Network (we've had Network Data models for eons. EAV/CR is an example)
  3. Links are facilitated via URIs
  4. Until recently the granularity of Networking on the Web was scoped to Data Containers (documents) (due to prevalence of URL style links
  5. The Linked Data meme adds Data Item (Datum) level granularity to World Wide Web networking via HTTP URIs
  6. Data Items become Web Reference-able when you Identify/Name them using HTTP based URIs
  7. An HTTP URI implicitly binds a Web Reference-able Data Item (Entity, Datum, Data Object, Resource) to its Web Accessible Metadata
  8. Web Accessible Metadata resides within Data Containers (documents or information resources)
  9. The representation of a Web Accessible Metadata container is negotiable
  10. I am able to write and dispatch this blog post courtesy of the Web features listed above
  11. You are able to explore the many dimensions to data exposed by this blog should you decide to explore the Linked Data mesh exposed by this post's HTTP URI (via its permalink permalink)

The HTTP URI is the secret sauce of the Web that is powerfully and unobtrusively reintroduced via the Linked Data meme (classic back to the future act). This powerful sauce possess a unique power courtesy of its inherent duality i.e., how it uniquely combines Data Item Identity (think keys in traditional DBMS parlance) with Data Access (e.g. access to negotiable representations of associated metadata).

As you can see, I've made no mention of RDF or SPARQL, and I can still articulate the inherent value of the "Linked Data" dimension that the "Linked Data" meme adds to the World Wide Web.

As per usual this post is a live demonstration of Linked Data (dog-food style) :-)

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