Leigh Dodds Programme Manager, Talis Platform Talis 25 th June 2009 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/ An Introduction to Linked Data

Overview What is RDF? Historical Issues with the Semantic Web Linked Data The Linking Open Data Project Practical Steps Closing Points

What is RDF?

Historical Issues with the Semantic Web

Linked Data

The Linking Open Data Project

Practical Steps

Closing Points

What Is RDF? http://www.flickr.com/photos/-bast-/349497988/

Apollo 11 was launched from Cape Canaveral

Apollo 11 was launched from Cape Canaveral Subject Predicate Object

<http://nasa.dataincubator.org/spacecraft/apollo-11> <http://purl.org/net/schemas/space/launchsite> <http://nasa.dataincubator.org/launchsite/capecanaveral>.

Why has it taken so long? http://www.flickr.com/photos/caitlinator/3009659704/

The Technology Problem

The Babel Problem

The AI Problem

Linked Data A grass roots approach http://www.flickr.com/photos/66164549@N00/2800038473

“ Linked Data is the Web done right” – Tim Berners-Lee

The Web of Documents Links Between Documents, not Things Data only loosely structured Meaning of links is implicit

Web 2.0 Web 2.0 Increasingly structured data Little linking between sites No standardization across APIs

Linked Data Standard Data Model Link together datasets across the web Add value through network effects

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabiovenni/478239267/ The Linking Open Data Project

The LOD &quot;Cloud&quot; - May 2007

The LOD &quot;Cloud&quot; - July 2007

The LOD &quot;Cloud&quot; - August 2007

The LOD &quot;Cloud&quot; - November 2007

The LOD &quot;Cloud&quot; – Feb 2008

The LOD &quot;Cloud&quot; – Sept 2008

Practical Pointers A step-by-step approach to publishing Linked Data http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualpanic/2422742902

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kubina/941699149 Identify Your Data What might you usefully publish? Where is it stored? How is maintained?

Identify Your Data

What might you usefully publish?

Where is it stored?

How is maintained?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tillwe/603936954 Identify Objects of Collective Interest Assign them a unique URL Ensure those URLs are stable Think about more than just “content” At this stage don't think about the user experience

Identify Objects of Collective Interest

Assign them a unique URL

Ensure those URLs are stable

Think about more than just “content”

At this stage don't think about the user experience

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wilhei/109404222/ Publish Human & Machine Readable Data A page for each object with human and machine-readable views RDFa can be used to embed data into HTML Provide links between objects

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uncommondepth/3204094812/ Ensure Licensing is Clear Creative Commons Open Data Licenses Attach licenses to content and data

Ensure Licensing is Clear

Creative Commons

Open Data Licenses

Attach licenses to content and data

http://flickr.com/photos/bekathwia/2170338717 Link into the Web of Data Stitch your data into the Linked Data Cloud Use DbPedia as a linking hub

Additional Benefits Produces flexible, well-structured sites Search engine optimised Encourages reuse, linking

Additional Benefits

Produces flexible, well-structured sites

Search engine optimised

Encourages reuse, linking

Closing Points Linked Data is a natural evolution of the web Web of data is growing rapidly Need for more authoritative and quality sources http://www.flickr.com/photos/vshioshvili/2093112220

Further Reading Linked Data http://linkeddata.org Building coherence at bbc.co.uk http://derivadow.com/2009/01/30/building-coherence-at-bbccouk/ Your Website is Your API: Quick Wins for Government Data http://www.jenitennison.com/blog/node/100

Linked Data

http://linkeddata.org

Building coherence at bbc.co.uk

http://derivadow.com/2009/01/30/building-coherence-at-bbccouk/

Your Website is Your API: Quick Wins for Government Data

http://www.jenitennison.com/blog/node/100

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