Linked Data is simply hypermedia-based structured data.

Linked Data offers everyone a Web-scale, Enterprise-grade mechanism for platform-independent creation, curation, access, and integration of data.

The fundamental steps to creating Linked Data are as follows:

  1. Choose a Name Reference Mechanism — i.e., URIs.

  2. Choose a Data Model with which to Structure your Data — minimally, you need a model which clearly distinguishes

    1. Subjects (also known as Entities)
    2. Subject Attributes (also known as Entity Attributes), and
    3. Attribute Values (also known as Subject Attribute Values or Entity Attribute Values).
  3. Choose one or more Data Representation Syntaxes (also called Markup Languages or Data Formats) to use when creating Resources with Content based on your chosen Data Model. Some Syntaxes in common use today are HTML+RDFa, N3, Turtle, RDF/XML, TriX, XRDS, GData, OData, OpenGraph, and many others.

  4. Choose a URI Scheme that facilitates binding Referenced Names to the Resources which will carry your Content -- your Structured Data.

  5. Create Structured Data by using your chosen Name Reference Mechanism, your chosen Data Model, and your chosen Data Representation Syntax, as follows:

    1. Identify Subject(s) using Resolvable URI(s).
    2. Identify Subject Attribute(s) using Resolvable URI(s).
    3. Assign Attribute Values to Subject Attributes. These Values may be either Literals (e.g., STRINGs, BLOBs) or Resolvable URIs.

You can create Linked Data (hypermedia-based data representations) Resources from or for many things. Examples include: personal profiles, calendars, address books, blogs, photo albums; there are many, many more.

Related

  1. Linked Data an Introduction -- simple introduction to Linked Data and its virtues
  2. How Data Makes Corporations Dumb -- Jeff Jonas (IBM) interview
  3. Hypermedia Types -- evolving information portal covering different aspects of Hypermedia resource types
  4. URIBurner -- service that generates Linked Data from a plethora of heterogeneous data sources
  5. Linked Data Meme -- TimbL design issues note about Linked Data
  6. Data 3.0 Manifesto -- note about format agnostic Linked Data
  7. DBpedia -- large Linked Data Hub
  8. Linked Open Data Cloud -- collection of Linked Data Spaces
  9. Linked Open Commerce Cloud -- commerce (clicks & mortar and/or clicks & clicks) oriented Linked Data Space
  10. LOD Cloud Cache -- massive Linked Data Space hosting most of the LOD Cloud Datasets
  11. LOD2 Initiative -- EU Co-Funded Project to develop global knowledge space from LOD.