Ways of thinking about Linked Data

shared innovation™
Ways of thinking about Linked
Data
Rob Styles, SeniorTechnical Consultant
rob.styles@talis.com

A brief history of the Web.

The Web is notThe Internet.

1990 —Tim Berners-Lee starts WorldWideWeb

2000 — Jimmy Wales starts Wikipedia

1980 —Tim Berners-Lee wrote Enquire-Within-Upon-Everything

1980 —Tim Berners-Lee wrote Enquire-Within-Upon-Everything
2007 —Tim Berners-Lee starts Linking Open Data

What are people looking for?

What are people looking for?
1. roberta mancino
2. tokyo sandblaster
3. josiah viera
4. marcus dupree
5. missle launch california
6. missile launch california
7. jack mcbrayer
8. dot jones
9. paul millsap
10. ab cuts
http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends?sa=X&date=2010-11-9

Search Engine Results.

PageRank.

Ambiguity.
(the Paris Hilton problem)

Wikipedia.

Data is just people saying stuff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11372185

Semantics is meaning.

Syntax is the rules.

The Web of Documents;
a Syntactic Web.

The Web of Data;
a Semantic Web.

Use web addresses as names for
real things.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/Lion#species

When someone requests that
URL, give back useful information.

Provide links to other things, both
in your own site and elsewhere.

Linked Data is not* about
publishing data on the web, it’s
about making the things your
website says machine-readable.
* just

• “Mallard” is a Species.

• “Mallard” has a scientiﬁc name
of “Anas Platyrhynchos”.

• “Mallard” has a common name
of “Wild duck”.

of “Wild duck”.
• “Mallard” lives in the “Lake”
habitat (amongst others).

of “Wild duck”.
• “Wild Nature” is a video clip.

of “Wild duck”.
• “Wild Nature” is about the
species “Mallard”.

of “Wild duck”.
Mallard
Species
a

of “Wild duck”.
Mallard
Species
a
Anas Platyrhynchos
scientiﬁc name

of “Wild duck”.
Mallard
Species
a
Anas Platyrhynchos
scientiﬁc name
Wild duck
common name

of “Wild duck”.
Mallard
Species
a
Anas Platyrhynchos
scientiﬁc name
Wild duck
common name
Lake Habitat
a
lives in

of “Wild duck”.
Mallard
Species
a
Anas Platyrhynchos
scientiﬁc name
Wild
Nature
Video
Clipa
Wild duck
common name
Lake Habitat
a
lives in

of “Wild duck”.
Mallard
Species
a
Anas Platyrhynchos
scientiﬁc name
Wild
Nature
Video
Clipa
about
Wild duck
common name
Lake Habitat
a
lives in

Properties of Linked Data

• Repeated values are simple
(hard in CSV, simple in XML)

• Removing duplication is simple
(no mechanism in CSV, or XML)

• Many-to-Many relationships are simple
(no built-in mechanism in CSV, or XML, complicated in RDBMS)

• Mixing data from several places is simple
(no built-in mechanism in CSV, XML or RDBMS)

• Mixing data from several places is simple
(no built-in mechanism in CSV, XML or RDBMS)
• Data Structure is self-describing
(CSV needs you to know the structure, XML has limited support)

Licensing...

Licensing...
• Data is not a Creative Work

Licensing...
• Copyright does not apply (consistently)

Licensing...
• Creative Commons is a Copyright-based license

Licensing...
• Therefore...

Licensing...
• Therefore...
• Creative Commons does not apply to data...

Licensing...
• Therefore...
• Creative Commons does not apply to data...
• Use CC0 or ODC PDDL or ODC ODbL (for share-alike)

but more...Think in terms of
webs of things, not hierarchies,
site maps or user journeys.

still more...An internet of things

Key Points !

Key Points !
• Linked Data, RDF, is the HTML for data.
(it’s 1995 all over again)

Key Points !
• Linked Data, web-thinking, is as old as the Library of Alexandria
(and like Alexandria, it is a great way to share knowledge)

Key Points !
• Linked Data makes data part of the web.
(a ﬁrst class citizen alongside HTML, a target for linking to)

Key Points !
• Linked Data makes data part of the web.
(a ﬁrst class citizen alongside HTML, a target for linking to)
• Linked Data lets anyone say anything about anything.
(so don’t trust everything you read...)

This work is Copyright © 2008 Talis Group Limited.
It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
Full details at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
You are free:
to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
to Remix — to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the
author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse
you or your use of the work).
• For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work.
• Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
• Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author's moral rights.
• Some Content in the work may be licensed under different terms, this is noted separately.

Ways of thinking about Linked Data

Ways of thinking about Linked Data

More Related Content

Similar to Ways of thinking about Linked Data

Recently uploaded

Ways of thinking about Linked Data