The primary topic of a meme
penned by TimBL in the form of a Design Issues Doc (note: this is how TimBL
has shared his thoughts since the Beginning of
the Web).
There are a number of dimensions to the meme, but its primary
purpose is the reintroduction of the HTTP URI -- a vital component of the Web's core
architecture.
What's Special about HTTP URIs?
They possess an intrinsic duality that combines persistent and
unambiguous Data
Identity with platform & representation format independent Data
Access. Thus, you can use a string of characters that look like a
contemporary Web URL to unambiguously achieve the
following:
- Identity or Name Anything of Interest
- Describe Anything of Interest by associating the Description
Subject's Identity with a constellation of Attribute and Value
pairs (technically: an Entity-Attribute-Value or
Subject-Predicate-Object graph)
- 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
information resources)
What's the basic value proposition of the Linked Data meme?
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 Hyperdata as link types.
Note: Hyperdata Linking is simply what an HTTP URI
facilitates.
Examples problems solved by injecting Linked Data into the
Web:
- Federated Identity by enabling Individuals to unambiguously
Identify themselves (Profiles++) courtesy of existing Internet and Web protocols (e.g., FOAF+SSL's WebIDs which combine Personal
Identity with X.509 certificates and HTTPs based client side
certification)
- 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
- Spam Busting via the above.
- 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 GoodRelations and SIOC
- Coherent integration of disparate data across the Web and/or
within the Enterprise via "Data Meshing" rather than "Data
Mashing"
- Moving beyond imprecise statistically driven "Keyword Search"
(e.g. Page Rank) to "Precision Find" driven by typed link based
Entity Rank plus Entity Type and Entity
Property filters.
Conclusion
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).
The value proposition of Linked Data is inextricably linked to
the value proposition of the World Wide Web. 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
context -- via a new level of link
abstraction, courtesy of the Identity and Access duality of HTTP
URIs.
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.
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