- It isn't World Wide Web Specific (HTTP != World
Wide Web)
- It isn't Open Data Specific
- It isn't about "Free" (Beer or Speech)
- It isn't about Markup (so don't expect to grok it via "markup
first" approach)
- It's about Hyperdata - the use of HTTP and REST to
deliver a powerful platform agnostic mechanism for Data Reference,
Access, and Integration.
When trying to understand HTTP based Linked Data, especially if you're well versed
in DBMS technology use (User, Power User, Architect, Analyst, DBA,
or Programmer) think:
- Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) without operating system, data model,
or wire-protocol specificity or lock-in potential
- Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) without programming language
specificity
-
ADO.NET without .NET runtime specificity and
.NET bound language specificity
- OLE-DB without Windows operating system & programming
language specificity
- XMLA without XML format specificity - with Tabular and
Multidimensional results formats expressible in a variety of data
representation formats.
- All of the above scoped to the Record rather than Container
level, with Generic HTTP scheme URIs associated with each Record,
Field, and Field value (optionally)
Remember the need for Data Access & Integration technology
is the by product of the following realities:
- Human curated data is ultimately dirty, because:
- our thick thumbs, inattention, distractions, and general
discomfort with typing, make typos prevalent
- database engines exist for a variety of data models - Graph,
Relational, Hierarchical;
- within databases you have different record container/partition
names e.g. Table Names;
- within a database record container you have records that are
really aspects of the same thing (different keys exist in a
plethora of operational / line of business systems that expose
aspects of the same entity e.g., customer data that spans
Accounts, CRM, ERP application databases);
- different field names (one database has "EMP" while another has
"Employee") for the same record
- .
- Units of measurement is driven by locale, the UK office wants
to see sales in Pounds Sterling while the French office prefers
Euros etc.
- All of the above is subject to context halos which can be quite granular re.
sensitivity e.g. staff travel between locations that alter locales
and their roles; basically, profiles matters a lot.
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