Content
RDFa Wiki available
The Semantic Web Command Line
Ever have wondered if there is something around like a command line for the Semantic Web? An online tool that allows you load and query a range of data sources? Well, peradventure Benjamin Nowack has developed a tool, called SPARQLBot, that does all this. It is really great. You launch your favourite IRC client (I use Hydra IRC) and then you (or a SPARQL geek near to you) defines a command that does something useful. Pull in some data, query it, smush it, etc.
Check it out! Play around with it. Experience how to instant-integrate data source on an RDF-basis. You will enjoy it. An example may better illustrate it: Imagine you've joined the #sparqlbot channel at irc:irc.freenode.net; you query for news (from an RSS channel):
mhausenblas>sparqlbot, load <FEEDURI>mhausenblas>sparqlbot, news about XXX
What happens in the background is that the feed gets loaded into the store, and the command triggers a SPARQL query:
SELECT DISTINCT ?item ?o WHERE {
?item a rss:item ; ?p ?o .
FILTER REGEX(?o, "$1", "i")
}
Isn't that great? I experienced it today. It really rocks :) You can add your own commands (given some basic SPARQL knowledge) and extend the bot's intelligence. Not to mention that this nice tool (being based on ARC2) even understands RDFa - very nice, indeed (try also the 'sw faq command'). However, the name SPARQLBot is to modest, IMHO. It is THE Semantic Web command line!
riese launched!
So finally we did it: Today we released the alpha version of riese, the 'RDFizing and Interlinking the EuroStat Data Set Effort'. Deploying linked-data using XHTML+RDFa is quite a new idea. We combined it with what we call User Contributed Interlinking, i.e. let user add semantic links in a Wiki-style manner. Check it out!
Btw, thanks Danny for your nice post on riese :)
A great RDFa video tutorial ...
Cool RDFa Tutorial
Fabien, you're simply the best: Your RDFa tutorial rocks!
RDFa news
As Mark pointed it out on his blog: RDFa is about to lift-off! Quick links:
- The RDFa Primer, and
- The RDFa Syntax
Take a look at it and start playing around ;)
An RDFa browser
Did you know that the Zitgist RDF browser actually supports RDFa? This is to say you can feed the browser with XHTML+RDFa (see example) and it will render it!
Ok. It has some minor hiccups (seems to duplicate each prop) ... but hey ... it's a start.
RDFa-deployed Multimedia Metadata (ramm.x)
The RDFa-deployed Multimedia Metadata (ramm.x) activity has been launched:
With ramm.x we aim at enabling existing multimedia metadata formats to enter the Semantic Web [...] ramm.x targets at self-descriptive media asset descriptions allowing to apply the follow-your-nose principle.
RDFa applications
Two new RDFa applications are available:
- Ben has announced a new Bookmarklets and RDFa Web Clipboard;
- I've put an alpha version of a FOAF-RDFa generator, called FOAFr, online.
Check it out ;)
RDFa news
W3C: Questionnaire on JavaScript-RDF APIs
W3C prepares for Scripting for the Semantic Web:
The W3C Semantic Web Activity is considering whether to propose further work specifying a standard Applications Programming Interface (API) for people writing Semantic Web applications in Javascript running in browsers. Before engaging, possibly, in drafting a charter to be then submitted to W3C members, W3C would like to solicit input from the developers' community. An interactive questionnaire was therefore set up at:
http://www.w3.org/2002/09/wbs/1/semweb-js-api/
to collect community input. W3C would appreciate if interested developers filled the questionnaire to promote consensus on this issue.
BTW: The 3rd Workshop on Scripting for the Semantic Web is colocated with ESWC 2007. June 6 or 7, 2007 Innsbruck, Austria.
RDF in HTML and Microformats
When Seth states that "[...] Microformats have succeeded here, allowing me to very easily embed metadata into XHTML.", I'd like to reply: You can virtually embed RDF into (X)HTML using RDFa; just as easy as that + you get: multiple Vocs in one place via namespaces, one-tool-for-all-formats, etc.
Want to try out? Go have a look at RDFa bookmarklets.
RDFa Use Cases
In the W3C RDF-in-HTML task force, we now establish use cases for RDFa.




