Open source is now a term that is increasingly understood, or at least talked about. One of the next battles in keeping the web open is keeping data open - from the content we "generate" for many social sites to the closed silos of government and businesses.
Just like open source, open data is a mix of technology, licensing, and attitude. Here in Vancouver, we've started experimenting with what I like to call a Semantic Web Community "Barn Raising" effort. Lots of people are interested in open data and related technology that supports it, like the semantic web, RDF, etc. But it's very hard to just have nice thought experiments about all this, we learn best by doing.
Recently, I gave a talk at DrupalCon Washington DC talking about the semantic web. I said that RDFa is "food for robots", so what better data to experiment with than something related to food?
The project we're tackling is to collectively source restaurant information. The information will be stored in part on Freebase, as well as various front end mashups, iPhone apps, and other tools. Eventually, we hope to create an economic incentive so that some restaurants and/or restaurant directory websites will expose their data semantically.
The talk will be a mix of community, policy, hand waving, and technology, as well as an open call to help with this project in your own city. You'll leave with some food for thought on how open data and the semantic web are evolving, and what you can do with it today.
3. Boris Mann
• Long time non-coding
contributor to
open source projects
4. Boris Mann
• Long time non-coding
contributor to
open source projects
5. Boris Mann
• Long time non-coding
contributor to
open source projects
• Current day job: Bootup Labs
6. Boris Mann
• Long time non-coding
contributor to
open source projects
• Current day job: Bootup Labs
7. Boris Mann
• Long time non-coding
contributor to
open source projects
• Current day job: Bootup Labs
• Community “stuff” in Vancouver
and around the world since 2004
8. Boris Mann
• Long time non-coding
contributor to
open source projects
• Current day job: Bootup Labs
• Community “stuff” in Vancouver
and around the world since 2004
23. Open Data
That’s software I
can use for free,
right?
• Much higher understanding
of open source
24. Open Data
That’s software I
can use for free,
right?
• Much higher understanding
of open source
25. Open Data
That’s software I
can use for free,
right?
• Much higher understanding
of open source
• Next: keep data open
26. Open Data
That’s software I
can use for free,
right?
• Much higher understanding
of open source
• Next: keep data open
• Closed silos in social networks, businesses,
government
27. Open Data
That’s software I
can use for free,
right?
• Much higher understanding
of open source
• Next: keep data open
• Closed silos in social networks, businesses,
government
30. Technology, Licensing,
and Attitude
• Technology: use standard formats, APIs
• Licensing: need flexible licensing - wrong
license can taint data and make it hard to
re-use
31. Technology, Licensing,
and Attitude
• Technology: use standard formats, APIs
• Licensing: need flexible licensing - wrong
license can taint data and make it hard to
re-use
• Attitude: our data is not our business
model
32. Public Data Sets
“
You've read, or can imagine, the impact that the first
Public Libraries had on human culture. Now imagine
the opening up of not just this, but other libraries of data, so
huge that economies of scale blast the project off beyond any
analogy that could be drawn with our everyday experience or
historical memories. It won't just be Amazon that offers up this
kind of data - it will be relatively commonplace soon, we
imagine.
It will be like a network of libraries - for robots. Robots
that go to the library frequently, read very fast and make
”
serious use of what they've learned.
– Read Write Web, Feb 2009
42. “
…just what RDFa is supposed to be:
human readable data, formatting data and
machine readable data all in the same
document, all inline, all describing the
same thing.
” - Ben Lavender / Stéphane Corlosquet
http://tr.im/RDFaDrupalYouTube
http://tr.im/RDFaInDrupal
43. Robot Food
• Humans create the
content
• Tools make it more
easily digestable by
marking it up auto-
magically
• Enables re-use
44. Creative Commons
has a flavor
• http://wiki.creativecommons.org/RDFa
45. Freebase
• Structured data - started with Wikipedia
• Browse / search / filter - then create/edit
(addictive!)
• Data modeling
• Build apps
58. BaconPatioBeer
• Where are great places for
breakfast / brunch in town?
• Which restaurant has a patio
that we can enjoy the sunshine
on?
59. BaconPatioBeer
• Where are great places for
breakfast / brunch in town?
• Which restaurant has a patio
that we can enjoy the sunshine
on?
60. BaconPatioBeer
• Where are great places for
breakfast / brunch in town?
• Which restaurant has a patio
that we can enjoy the sunshine
on?
• What restaurants are pouring
great beer around town?
61. BaconPatioBeer
• Where are great places for
breakfast / brunch in town?
• Which restaurant has a patio
that we can enjoy the sunshine
on?
• What restaurants are pouring
great beer around town?
64. • Simple concept
• Build out restaurant
data using Freebase
as central data
store
65. • Simple concept
• Build out restaurant
data using Freebase
as central data
store
• Make a front end
website
66. • Simple concept
• Build out restaurant
data using Freebase
as central data
store
• Make a front end
website
67. • Simple concept
• Build out restaurant
data using Freebase
as central data
store
• Make a front end
website
68. • Simple concept
• Build out restaurant
data using Freebase
as central data
store
• Make a front end
website
• Document the data
formats, APIs, and
applications
72. Economic Incentive
• BLOG
• = Better Listings On
Google
• Semantic just
beginning to influence
search - Google,
Yahoo Search Monkey
73. Economic Incentive
• BLOG
• = Better Listings On
Google
• Semantic just
beginning to influence
search - Google,
Yahoo Search Monkey
• Add more data, it gets
shown on the map
74. Economic Incentive
• BLOG Lindemans
Pecheresse on
• = Better Listings On sale
Google
• Semantic just
beginning to influence
search - Google,
Yahoo Search Monkey
• Add more data, it gets
shown on the map
75. • Make a blog post
and announce a
meetup
• Gather some
tech, policy, hand
waving
• (try to) build
community
76. • Different
ingredients
needed
• Communities
and projects
are made out Turns out this is barn raising, too
of PEOPLE - barn raising quilts
77. • Different
ingredients
needed
• Communities
and projects
are made out Turns out this is barn raising, too
of PEOPLE - barn raising quilts
…we got busy
79. Open Restaurants
• http://openrestaurants.org
• Still experimenting with Freebase schemas
• Maybe we can kill some Flash based
restaurant sites?
• Stay tuned…
Personal goal: lunch specials in an N block radius
81. Have I Convinced you?
• Policy: Think about your attitude and
licensing around data
82. Have I Convinced you?
• Policy: Think about your attitude and
licensing around data
• Technology: Check out semantic web
83. Have I Convinced you?
• Policy: Think about your attitude and
licensing around data
• Technology: Check out semantic web
• Community: Build one, or build with
one
84. Have I Convinced you?
• Policy: Think about your attitude and
licensing around data
• Technology: Check out semantic web
• Community: Build one, or build with
one
Hand waving is fun!
Start with the usual: how many from out of town?
What do you want to get out of this? What intrigued you about the session?
What do you know already?
Semantic Web
RDFa
community building
barn raising
triples
2 billion triples
What do *I* want to tell you about? A pet project and get you excited about tech
Start with the usual: how many from out of town?
What do you want to get out of this? What intrigued you about the session?
What do you know already?
Semantic Web
RDFa
community building
barn raising
triples
2 billion triples
What do *I* want to tell you about? A pet project and get you excited about tech
Start with the usual: how many from out of town?
What do you want to get out of this? What intrigued you about the session?
What do you know already?
Semantic Web
RDFa
community building
barn raising
triples
2 billion triples
What do *I* want to tell you about? A pet project and get you excited about tech
Start with the usual: how many from out of town?
What do you want to get out of this? What intrigued you about the session?
What do you know already?
Semantic Web
RDFa
community building
barn raising
triples
2 billion triples
What do *I* want to tell you about? A pet project and get you excited about tech
PSA: Handwaving will happen throughout this presentation
Call bullshit, ask for clarification, help us learn
data.gov
data.gov
data.gov
Washington DC
Open source is now a term that is increasingly understood, or at least talked about.
FLOSS vs. open source is still problematic. Jim de la Hunt (@jdlh) twittered that he’s been hearing a lot of open source, but not really mentioning FLOSS. I responded - o/s is somewhat heard of (That’s software I can use for free, right?), FLOSS is radical and scary (just like pirates)
Anyway, let’s pretend we understand open source and move on to the next battle
keeping data open
/from the content we \"generate\" for many social sites to the closed silos of government and businesses.
Open source is now a term that is increasingly understood, or at least talked about.
FLOSS vs. open source is still problematic. Jim de la Hunt (@jdlh) twittered that he’s been hearing a lot of open source, but not really mentioning FLOSS. I responded - o/s is somewhat heard of (That’s software I can use for free, right?), FLOSS is radical and scary (just like pirates)
Anyway, let’s pretend we understand open source and move on to the next battle
keeping data open
/from the content we \"generate\" for many social sites to the closed silos of government and businesses.
Open source is now a term that is increasingly understood, or at least talked about.
FLOSS vs. open source is still problematic. Jim de la Hunt (@jdlh) twittered that he’s been hearing a lot of open source, but not really mentioning FLOSS. I responded - o/s is somewhat heard of (That’s software I can use for free, right?), FLOSS is radical and scary (just like pirates)
Anyway, let’s pretend we understand open source and move on to the next battle
keeping data open
/from the content we \"generate\" for many social sites to the closed silos of government and businesses.
Open source is now a term that is increasingly understood, or at least talked about.
FLOSS vs. open source is still problematic. Jim de la Hunt (@jdlh) twittered that he’s been hearing a lot of open source, but not really mentioning FLOSS. I responded - o/s is somewhat heard of (That’s software I can use for free, right?), FLOSS is radical and scary (just like pirates)
Anyway, let’s pretend we understand open source and move on to the next battle
keeping data open
/from the content we \"generate\" for many social sites to the closed silos of government and businesses.
Open source is now a term that is increasingly understood, or at least talked about.
FLOSS vs. open source is still problematic. Jim de la Hunt (@jdlh) twittered that he’s been hearing a lot of open source, but not really mentioning FLOSS. I responded - o/s is somewhat heard of (That’s software I can use for free, right?), FLOSS is radical and scary (just like pirates)
Anyway, let’s pretend we understand open source and move on to the next battle
keeping data open
/from the content we \"generate\" for many social sites to the closed silos of government and businesses.
Open source is now a term that is increasingly understood, or at least talked about.
FLOSS vs. open source is still problematic. Jim de la Hunt (@jdlh) twittered that he’s been hearing a lot of open source, but not really mentioning FLOSS. I responded - o/s is somewhat heard of (That’s software I can use for free, right?), FLOSS is radical and scary (just like pirates)
Anyway, let’s pretend we understand open source and move on to the next battle
keeping data open
/from the content we \"generate\" for many social sites to the closed silos of government and businesses.
Technology: lots of platforms and frameworks already produce formats and have APIs - if you’re building from scratch, ask / require your tech partner to include them
Licensing: do you want companies to play? then don’t use CC Non Commercial
Attitude: lots of businesses get confused about their ownership of data - governments are just
Technology: lots of platforms and frameworks already produce formats and have APIs - if you’re building from scratch, ask / require your tech partner to include them
Licensing: do you want companies to play? then don’t use CC Non Commercial
Attitude: lots of businesses get confused about their ownership of data - governments are just
Technology: lots of platforms and frameworks already produce formats and have APIs - if you’re building from scratch, ask / require your tech partner to include them
Licensing: do you want companies to play? then don’t use CC Non Commercial
Attitude: lots of businesses get confused about their ownership of data - governments are just
This was Amazon opening up US Census, dumps of Freebase and Wikipedia, etc. etc. -- Terrabytes of data
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/amazon_exposes_1_terrabyte_of.php - Feb 2009
Semantic web not really just one technology - an Apple is a fruit, vs. Apple the company, vs. Apple the singer
Linked Data - this is what gets me excited. 2 billion connected facts
RDFa, Microformats, etc. -
Semantic web not really just one technology - an Apple is a fruit, vs. Apple the company, vs. Apple the singer
Linked Data - this is what gets me excited. 2 billion connected facts
RDFa, Microformats, etc. -
Semantic web not really just one technology - an Apple is a fruit, vs. Apple the company, vs. Apple the singer
Linked Data - this is what gets me excited. 2 billion connected facts
RDFa, Microformats, etc. -
Semantic web not really just one technology - an Apple is a fruit, vs. Apple the company, vs. Apple the singer
Linked Data - this is what gets me excited. 2 billion connected facts
RDFa, Microformats, etc. -
Semantic web not really just one technology - an Apple is a fruit, vs. Apple the company, vs. Apple the singer
Linked Data - this is what gets me excited. 2 billion connected facts
RDFa, Microformats, etc. -
Semantic web not really just one technology - an Apple is a fruit, vs. Apple the company, vs. Apple the singer
Linked Data - this is what gets me excited. 2 billion connected facts
RDFa, Microformats, etc. -
Ben Lavender, Stéphane Corlosquet
SPARQL
Don’t have to move data around - pull it as needed
Mashups are made of robot poop?
http://www.freebase.com/view/en/what_is_freebase
Freebase is unique among online databases because a single Freebase topic can encompass many different kinds of information. In other databases there would have to be a separate topic for each category, or a completely separate database. For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger would appear in a movie database as an actor, a political database as a governor, and a bodybuilder database as a Mr. Universe. In Freebase there is one topic for Arnold Schwarzenegger that contains information about all three facets of his public life. The unified topic acts as an information hub, making it easy to find and contribute information about him regardless of what kind of information it is.
http://www.freebase.com/view/en/what_is_freebase
Freebase is unique among online databases because a single Freebase topic can encompass many different kinds of information. In other databases there would have to be a separate topic for each category, or a completely separate database. For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger would appear in a movie database as an actor, a political database as a governor, and a bodybuilder database as a Mr. Universe. In Freebase there is one topic for Arnold Schwarzenegger that contains information about all three facets of his public life. The unified topic acts as an information hub, making it easy to find and contribute information about him regardless of what kind of information it is.
Fix something broken? e.g. Google Transit for Vancouver replacing i-Move
Or build something brand new?
Fix something broken? e.g. Google Transit for Vancouver replacing i-Move
Or build something brand new?
Many sites
Incomplete data: various different bits, all wrong
Nothing linked, no re-use
Many sites
Incomplete data: various different bits, all wrong
Nothing linked, no re-use
(.com)
(.com)
(.com)
(.com)
(.com)
(.com)
So, the concept is simple:
Build out restaurant data through manual input as well as mass import into the Vancouver base on Freebase -- http://vancouver.freebase.com
Make a front end website in Drupal show strips of bacon in the morning, patios in the afternoon, and beer at night - in the spirit of Washington DC's http://stumblesafely.com
Document the data formats, APIs, and applications available so that anyone can import or export the data, as well build their own front ends, widgets, etc.
So, the concept is simple:
Build out restaurant data through manual input as well as mass import into the Vancouver base on Freebase -- http://vancouver.freebase.com
Make a front end website in Drupal show strips of bacon in the morning, patios in the afternoon, and beer at night - in the spirit of Washington DC's http://stumblesafely.com
Document the data formats, APIs, and applications available so that anyone can import or export the data, as well build their own front ends, widgets, etc.
So, the concept is simple:
Build out restaurant data through manual input as well as mass import into the Vancouver base on Freebase -- http://vancouver.freebase.com
Make a front end website in Drupal show strips of bacon in the morning, patios in the afternoon, and beer at night - in the spirit of Washington DC's http://stumblesafely.com
Document the data formats, APIs, and applications available so that anyone can import or export the data, as well build their own front ends, widgets, etc.
So, the concept is simple:
Build out restaurant data through manual input as well as mass import into the Vancouver base on Freebase -- http://vancouver.freebase.com
Make a front end website in Drupal show strips of bacon in the morning, patios in the afternoon, and beer at night - in the spirit of Washington DC's http://stumblesafely.com
Document the data formats, APIs, and applications available so that anyone can import or export the data, as well build their own front ends, widgets, etc.
So, the concept is simple:
Build out restaurant data through manual input as well as mass import into the Vancouver base on Freebase -- http://vancouver.freebase.com
Make a front end website in Drupal show strips of bacon in the morning, patios in the afternoon, and beer at night - in the spirit of Washington DC's http://stumblesafely.com
Document the data formats, APIs, and applications available so that anyone can import or export the data, as well build their own front ends, widgets, etc.
So, the concept is simple:
Build out restaurant data through manual input as well as mass import into the Vancouver base on Freebase -- http://vancouver.freebase.com
Make a front end website in Drupal show strips of bacon in the morning, patios in the afternoon, and beer at night - in the spirit of Washington DC's http://stumblesafely.com
Document the data formats, APIs, and applications available so that anyone can import or export the data, as well build their own front ends, widgets, etc.
So, the concept is simple:
Build out restaurant data through manual input as well as mass import into the Vancouver base on Freebase -- http://vancouver.freebase.com
Make a front end website in Drupal show strips of bacon in the morning, patios in the afternoon, and beer at night - in the spirit of Washington DC's http://stumblesafely.com
Document the data formats, APIs, and applications available so that anyone can import or export the data, as well build their own front ends, widgets, etc.
So, the concept is simple:
Build out restaurant data through manual input as well as mass import into the Vancouver base on Freebase -- http://vancouver.freebase.com
Make a front end website in Drupal show strips of bacon in the morning, patios in the afternoon, and beer at night - in the spirit of Washington DC's http://stumblesafely.com
Document the data formats, APIs, and applications available so that anyone can import or export the data, as well build their own front ends, widgets, etc.
So, the concept is simple:
Build out restaurant data through manual input as well as mass import into the Vancouver base on Freebase -- http://vancouver.freebase.com
Make a front end website in Drupal show strips of bacon in the morning, patios in the afternoon, and beer at night - in the spirit of Washington DC's http://stumblesafely.com
Document the data formats, APIs, and applications available so that anyone can import or export the data, as well build their own front ends, widgets, etc.
So, the concept is simple:
Build out restaurant data through manual input as well as mass import into the Vancouver base on Freebase -- http://vancouver.freebase.com
Make a front end website in Drupal show strips of bacon in the morning, patios in the afternoon, and beer at night - in the spirit of Washington DC's http://stumblesafely.com
Document the data formats, APIs, and applications available so that anyone can import or export the data, as well build their own front ends, widgets, etc.
Blog - really easy to create content from the bottom up
Integration into tools...
Blog - really easy to create content from the bottom up
Integration into tools...
Blog - really easy to create content from the bottom up
Integration into tools...
Blog - really easy to create content from the bottom up
Integration into tools...
Blog - really easy to create content from the bottom up
Integration into tools...
Jim Pick, Karen Fung, Roland Tanglao, Matt Smilie, Adrian, Mack Hardy, Dale McGladdery, Mike West
(.com)
Gather around URLs
August 2005 - BarCamp in Palo Alto. October 2005, BarCamp Amsterdam - 2nd ever, first international