Re: RDF's challenge

On 6/11/13 11:56 AM, David Booth wrote:
> On 06/11/2013 10:59 AM, Kingsley Idehen wrote:
>> [ . . . ]  many RDF advocates
>> want to conflate Linked Data and RDF. This is technically wrong, and
>> marketing wise -- an utter disaster.
>
> I have not heard RDF advocates conflating Linked Data and RDF, but 
> maybe you talk to different RDF advocates than me.
>
> AFAICT, the vast majority of RDF advocates know that Linked Data is 
> RDF in which URIs are deferenceable to more RDF, but RDF is not 
> necessarily Linked Data, because RDF itself does not require URIs to 
> be dereferenceable.
>
> David
>
>
>
RDF isn't the defining characteristic when speaking about Linked Data 
outside the RDF community. It is much more palatable outside of the RDF 
community to loosely couple Linked Data (the concept) and RDF (a 
framework) which enables the construction of powerful Linked Data that's 
endowed with *explicit* human and machine-comprehensible entity 
relationships semantics.

Why? Because you don't build friction with folks that are already 
familiar with similar concepts albeit described using different terminology.

The key is to build bridges rather than impede their construction by 
enforcing world views in the most inflexible way.

If someone indicates to you that the letters R-D-F don't work for them, 
for whatever reason, what's wrong with triangulation to the same 
destination when it's the fundamental concept that matters, not the 
labels that we slap on them at specific times in our innovation continuum?

RDF and the Entity Relationship model [1] outlined by Peter Chen in his 
1976 dissertation are linked, conceptually and technically. That 
association is very powerful and extremely useful in situations where 
your audience suffers from R-D-F reflux.

RDF is useful, but it (like all innovations) has genealogy. That 
genealogy is just as important as the innovations it adds to the continuum.

Links:

1. http://bit.ly/YTdz3N -- The Entity-Relationship Model -- Toward a 
Unified View of Data  (note: page 34) .


-- 

Regards,

Kingsley Idehen	
Founder & CEO
OpenLink Software
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