Kingsley Idehen's Blog Data Spacehttp://www.openlinksw.com/weblog/public/search.vspx?blogid=127&q=rdf%20tax&type=text&output=htmlFri, 29 Mar 2024 09:33:33 GMTKingsley Uyi Idehen<kidehen@openlinksw.com>About rdf tax7 1 10 The simple demo use our Ajax based Visual Query Builder for the SPARQL Query Language (this isn't Grandma's Data Web UI, but not to worry, that is on it's way also). Here goes:

  1. go to http://demo.openlinksw.com/isparql
  2. Enter any of the following values into the "Default Data URI"; field:
    • - http://www.mkbergman.com/?p=336
      - http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/02/pipes_and_filte.html
      - http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/008513.html
      - Other URIs

What I am demonstrating is how existing Web Content hooks transperently into the "Data Web". Zero RDF Tax :-) Everything is good!

Note: Please look to the bottom of the screen for the "Run Query" Button. Remember, it not quite Grandma's UI but should do for Infonauts etc.. A screencast will follow.

]]>
Hello Data Web!http://www.openlinksw.com/dataspace/kidehen@openlinksw.com/weblog/kidehen@openlinksw.com%27s%20BLOG%20%5B127%5D/1134Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:22:04 GMT112008-02-04T23:22:04.000001-05:00Kingsley Uyi Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>
Daniel lewis has penned a variation of post about Linked Data enabling PHP applications such as: Wordpress, phpBB3, MediaWiki etc.

Daniel simplifies my post by using diagrams to depict the different paths for PHP based applications exposing Linked Data - especially those that already provide a significant amount of the content that drives Web 2.0.

If all the content in Web 2.0 information resources are distillable into discrete data objects endowed with HTTP based IDs (URIs), with zero "RDF handcrafting Tax", what do we end up with? A Giant Global Graph of Linked Data; the Web as a Database.

So, what used to apply exclusively, within enterprise settings re. Oracle, DB2, Informix, Ingres, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostrgeSQL, Progress Open Edge, Firebird, and others, now applies to the Web. The Web becomes the "Distributed Database Bus" that connects database records across disparate databases (or Data Spaces). These databases manage and expose records that are remotely accessible "by reference" via HTTP.

As I've stated at every opportunity in the past, Web 2.0 is the greatest thing that every happened to the Semantic Web vision :-) Without the "Web 2.0 Data Silo Conundrum" we wouldn't have the cry for "Data Portability" that brings a lot of clarity to some fundamental Web 2.0 limitations that end-users ultimately find unacceptable.

In the late '80s, the SQL Access Group (now part of X/Open) addressed a similar problem with RDBMS silos within the enterprise that lead to the SAG CLI which is exists today as Open Database Connectivity.

In a sense we now have WODBC (Web Open Database Connectivity), comprised of Web Services based CLIs and/or traditional back-end DBMS CLIs (ODBC, JDBC, ADO.NET, OLE-DB, or Native), Query Language (SPARQL Query Language), and a Wire Protocol (HTTP based SPARQL Protocol) delivering Web infrastructure equivalents of SQL and RDA, but much better, and with much broader scope for delivering profound value due to the Web's inherent openness. Today's PHP, Python, Ruby, Tcl, Perl, ASP.NET developer is the enterprise 4GL developer of yore, without enterprise confinement. We could even be talking about 5GL development once the Linked Data interaction is meshed with dynamic languages (delivering higher levels of abstraction at the language and data interaction levels). Even the underlying schemas and basic design will evolve from Closed World (solely) to a mesh of Closed & Open World view schemas.

]]>
Linked Data enabling PHP Applicationshttp://www.openlinksw.com/dataspace/kidehen@openlinksw.com/weblog/kidehen@openlinksw.com%27s%20BLOG%20%5B127%5D/1334Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:12:47 GMT12008-04-10T14:12:47-04:00Kingsley Uyi Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>
Bearing in mind we are all time challenged, here are links to OpenLink and Zitgist RDF Browser views of my earlier blog post re. Hyperdata & Linked Data.

Both browsers should lead you to the posts from Danny, Nova, and Tim. In both cases the URI < xmlns="http" www.openlinksw.com="www.openlinksw.com" dataspace="dataspace" kidehen="kidehen" openlinksw.com="openlinksw.com" weblog="weblog" s="s" blog="blog" b127="b127" d="d"> is a pointer to structured data (in my Blog Data Space) if your user agent (browser or other Web Client) requests an RDF representation of this post via its HTTP request payload (what the Browser are doing via the "Accept:" headers).</>

As you can see the Data Web is actually here! Without RDF generation upheaval (or Tax).

]]>
RDF Browser View of My Hyperdata & Linked Data Posthttp://www.openlinksw.com/dataspace/kidehen@openlinksw.com/weblog/kidehen@openlinksw.com%27s%20BLOG%20%5B127%5D/1253Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:26:02 GMT52007-09-19T21:26:02-04:00Kingsley Uyi Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>
I now have the first cut of a Facebook application called: Dynamic Linked Data Pages.

What is a Dynamic Linked Data Page (DLD)?

A dynamically generated Web Page comprised of Semantic Data Web style data links (formally typed links) and traditional Document Web links (generic links lacking type specificity).

Linked Data Pages will ultimately enable Facebook users to inject their public data into the Semantic Data Web as RDF based Linked Data. For instance, my Facebook Profile & Photo albums data is now available as RDF, without paying a cent of RDF handcrafting tax, thanks to the Virtuoso Sponger (middleware for producing RDF from non RDF data sources) which is now equipped with a new RDFizer Cartridger for the Facebook Query Language (FQL) and RESTful Web Service.

Demo Notes:

When you click on a link in DLD pages, you will be presented with a lookup that exposes the different interaction options associated with a given URI. Examples include:

  1. Explore - find attributes and relationships that apply to the clicked URI
  2. Dereference (get the attributes of the clicked URI)
  3. Bookmark - store the URI for subsequent use e.g meshing with other URIs from across the Web
  4. (X)HTML Page Open - traditional Document Web link (i.e. just opens another Web document as per usual)

Remember, the facebook URLs (links to web pages) are being converted, on the fly, into RDF based Structured Data ( graph model database) i.e Entity Sets that possess formally defined characteristics (attributes) and associations (relationships).

Dynamic Linked Data Pages

  1. My facebook Profile
  2. My facebook Photo Album

Saved RDF Browser Sessions

  1. My facebook Profile
  2. My facebook Photo Album

Saved SPARQL Query Definitions

  1. My facebook Profile Query
  2. My facebook Photo Album Query
]]>
Injecting Facebook Data into the Semantic Data Webhttp://www.openlinksw.com/dataspace/kidehen@openlinksw.com/weblog/kidehen@openlinksw.com%27s%20BLOG%20%5B127%5D/1237Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:40:11 GMT22009-02-11T07:40:11-05:00Kingsley Uyi Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>
Web Data Spaces

Now that broader understanding of the Semantic Data Web is emerging, I would like to revisit the issue of "Data Spaces".

A Data Space is a place where Data Resides. It isn't inherently bound to a specific Data Model (Concept Oriented, Relational, Hierarchical etc..). Neither is it implicitly an access point to Data, Information, or Knowledge (the perception is purely determined through the experiences of the user agents interacting with the Data Space.

A Web Data Space is a Web accessible Data Space.

Real world example:

Today we increasing perform one of more of the following tasks as part of our professional and personal interactions on the Web:

  1. Blog via many service providers or personally managed weblog platforms
  2. Create Event Calendars via Upcoming.com and Eventful
  3. Maintain and participate in Social Networks (e.g. Facebook, Orkut, MySpace)
  4. Create and Participate in Discussions (note: when you comment on blogs or wikis for instance, you are participating in, or creating, a conversation)
  5. Track news by subscribing to RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, or Atom Feeds
  6. Share Bookmarks & Tags via Del.icio.us and other Services
  7. Share Photos via Flickr
  8. Buy, Review, or Search for books via Amazon
  9. Participates in auctions via eBay
  10. Search for data via Google (of course!)

John Breslin has nice a animation depicting the creation of Web Data Spaces that drives home the point.

Web Data Space Silos

Unfortunately, what isn't as obvious to many netizens, is the fact that each of the activities above results in the creation of data that is put into some context by you the user. Even worse, you eventually realize that the service providers aren't particularly willing, or capable of, giving you unfettered access to your own data. Of course, this isn't always by design as the infrastructure behind the service can make this a nightmare from security and/or load balancing perspectives. Irrespective of cause, we end up creating our own "Data Spaces" all over the Web without a coherent mechanism for accessing and meshing these "Data Spaces".

What are Semantic Web Data Spaces?

Data Spaces on the Web that provide granular access to RDF Data.

What's OpenLink Data Spaces (ODS) About?

Short History

In anticipation of this the "Web Data Silo" challenge (an issue that we tackled within internal enterprise networks for years) we commenced the development (circa. 2001) of a distributed collaborative application suite called OpenLink Data Spaces (ODS). The project was never released to the public since the problems associated with the deliberate or inadvertent creation of Web Data silos hadn't really materialized (silos only emerged in concreted form after the emergence of the Blogosphere and Web 2.0). In addition, there wasn't a clear standard Query Language for the RDF based Web Data Model (i.e. the SPARQL Query Language didn't exist).

Today, ODS is delivered as a packaged solution (in Open Source and Commercial flavors) that alleviates the pain associated with Data Space Silos that exist on the Web and/or behind corporate firewalls. In either scenario, ODS simply allows you to create Open and Secure Data Spaces (via it's suite of applications) that expose data via SQL, RDF, XML oriented data access and data management technologies. Of course it also enables you to integrates transparently with existing 3rd party data space generators (Blogs, Wikis, Shared Bookmrks, Discussion etc. services) by supporting industry standards that cover:

  1. Content Publishing - Atom, Moveable Type, MetaWeblog, Blogger protocols
  2. Content Syndication Formats - RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, Atom, OPML etc.
  3. Data Management - SQL, RDF, XML, Free Text
  4. Data Access - SQL, SPARQL, GData, Web Services (SOAP or REST styles), WebDAV/HTTP
  5. Semantic Data Web Middleware - GRDDL, XSLT, SPARQL, XPath/XQuery, HTTP (Content Negotiation) for producing RDF from non RDF Data ((X)HTML, Microformats, XML, Web Services Response Data etc).

Thus, by installing ODS on your Desktop, Workgroup, Enterprise, or public Web Server, you end up with a very powerful solution for creating Open Data access oriented presence on the "Semantic Data Web" without incurring any of the typically assumed "RDF Tax".

Naturally, ODS is built atop Virtuoso and of course it exploits Virtuoso's feature-set to the max. It's also beginning to exploit functionality offered by the OpenLink Ajax Toolkit (OAT).

]]>
Semantic Web Data Spaceshttp://www.openlinksw.com/dataspace/kidehen@openlinksw.com/weblog/kidehen@openlinksw.com%27s%20BLOG%20%5B127%5D/1185Fri, 13 Apr 2007 22:19:29 GMT12007-04-13T18:19:29.000001-04:00Kingsley Uyi Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>
Ivan Herman has published another great Semantic Web presentation titled: State of the Semantic Web. I have placed links to some key points below; primarily for those who are new to the Semantic Web vision or somewhat confused about it thus far:

  1. Messaging Issues - misconceptions and misrepresentations (e.g intermingling or RDF the Data Model and RDF/XML one of several serialization formats)
  2. RDF Data Availability
  3. Generating RDF from non RDF Data ("RDF Tax" eradication)
  4. Querying RDF Data Sources
]]>
Semantic Web: State of Affairs Presentationhttp://www.openlinksw.com/dataspace/kidehen@openlinksw.com/weblog/kidehen@openlinksw.com%27s%20BLOG%20%5B127%5D/1167Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:02:53 GMT12007-03-26T13:02:53-04:00Kingsley Uyi Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>

XMP and microformats revisited: "

Yesterday I exercised poetic license when I suggested that Adobe’s Extensible metadata platform (XMP) was not only the spiritual cousin of microformats like hCalendar but also, perhaps, more likely to see widespread use in the near term. My poetic license was revoked, though, in a couple of comments:

Mike Linksvayer: How someone as massively clued-in as Jon Udell could be so misled as to describe XMP as a microformat is beyond me.

Danny Ayers: Like Mike I don’t really understand Jon’s references to microformats - I first assumed he meant XMP could be replaced with a uF.

Actually, I’m serious about this. If I step back and ask myself what are the essential qualities of a microformat, it’s a short list:

  1. A small chunk of machine-readable metadata,
  2. embedded in a document.

Mike notes:

XMP is embedded in a binary file, completely opaque to nearly all users; microformats put a premium on (practically require) colocation of metadata with human-visible HTML.

Yes, I understand. And as someone who is composing this blog entry as XHTML, in emacs, using a semantic CSS tag that will enable me to search for quotes by Mike Linksvayer and find the above fragment, I’m obviously all about metadata coexisting with human-readable HTML. And I’ve been applying this technique since long before I ever heard the term microformats — my own term was originally microcontent.

(Via Jon Udell.)

I believe Jon is acknowledging the fact that the propagation of metadata in "Binary based" Web data sources is no different to the microformats based propagation that is currently underway in full swing across the "Text based" Web data sources realm. He is reiterating the fact that the Web is self-annotating (exponentially) by way of Metadata Embedding. And yes, what he describes is a similar to Microformats in substance and propagation style :-)

Here is what I believe Jon is hoping to see:

  1. Binary files become valid data sources for Metadata oriented query processing. Technically I mean a binary file becomes a valid data source from which RDF Instance could be generated on the fly.
  2. Enhanement or unveiling of the Data Web by way of meshups that combine metadata from an array or data sources (not just the XML, (X)HTML, or RDF variety)
  3. The ability to use an array of query languages and techniques to construct these meshups

My little "Hello Data Web!" meme was about demonstrating a view that Danny has sought for a while: unobtrusive meshing of microformats and RDF via GRDDL and SPARQL binding that simply eliminates the often perceived "RDF Tax". Danny, Jon, myself, and many others have always understood that making the Data Web (Web of RDF Instance Data) more of a Force (Star Wars style) is the key to unravelling the power of the "Web as a Database". Of course, we also tend the describe our nirvana in different ways that sometimes obscures the fundamental commonality of vision that we all share.

Personally, I believe everyone should simply "feel the force" or observe "the bright and dark sides of the force" that is RDF. When this occurs en masse there will be a global epiphany (similar to what happened around the time of the initial unveiling of the Web of Hypertext). Jon's meme brings the often overlooked realm of binary based metadata sources into the general discourse.

JBinary Files as bona fide Data Web URIs (i.e. Metadata Sources) is much closer than you think :-) I should have my "Hello Data Web of Binary Data Sources" unveiled very soon!

]]>
XMP and microformats revisitedhttp://www.openlinksw.com/dataspace/kidehen@openlinksw.com/weblog/kidehen@openlinksw.com%27s%20BLOG%20%5B127%5D/1140Sat, 17 Feb 2007 17:43:05 GMT12007-02-17T12:43:05.000001-05:00Kingsley Uyi Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>