Public SWEO Challenge? (was Re: Running code)

Kjetil, Leo,

Kjetil's remarks yesterday and the discussion afterwards got my mind
going, too:-) I think we referred to some sort of a public "SWEO
Challenge", defined by us and sent it out to the developer community. (I
think Danny referred to something like that in one of his emails, too.)
I have no idea yet what we could 'offer' (apart from general fame), but
I am sure the W3C communication guys will help us on that. But it is
certainly an idea we should explore.

I think the project we would ask for should be different than the ISWC
SW Challenge stuffs. The ISWC challenges are aimed at experts, and are
usually relatively complex applications that are either not easy to
grasp for non-initiated or require a complex setup (I *loved* the Dutch
winner this year at ISWC, but to run it one has to set up a full prolog
environment plus, afaik, local databases, I am not sure it would work
easily on all platforms, etc, etc). My ideal would be a simple
application that could be easily run without complex software setups
(not everybody has mysql running!), or on a public server (I would
prefer the former). Something like TiddleWiki[1] or, in some respect,
exhibit[2]. We should also defined what the application is, instead of
leaving it completely open; we could therefore control that the
challenge is really on a widely usable tool and not some crazy idea that
is usable for a few hackers only. Frankly: it would also make our task
easier in judging a winner.

So let me throw in my idea (I have not seen Kjetil's or Leo's yet:-).
Actually, it is not really mine, somebody had this idea on one of the
blogs (I should find the reference) but, shame on me, I do not find it
now. The goal is to create a foaf based personal address book. Take
references to foaf files, display the content with some faceted view,
for example (a bit like [2]), use all the tricks to understand some
common content in foaf files (geo locations, vcard data, pictures,
flickr references, etc) and of course the friends of friends in those
foaf files as further possible links. It does not require registration
like, for example, LinkedIn, and it nevertheless updates itself
automatically because it will always take the latest foaf file content.
Ie, I could have my own address list on my machine taking care of itself
automatically via the foaf connections. Maybe combining it with some
agenda data, a bit like Lee's SPARQL did. It should really be aimed at a
useful, *personal* tool, easy to run and with a minimal (if any)
installation. I would certainly like to use something like that... (One
of the attractive side of this is that there *are* lots of foaf files
out there to give this an easy start in terms of available data!)

Obviously, this is just one idea. Let us see yours:-)

Note that this application would really be for the hackers'/developers'
crowd. I am not sure this application would be convincing for corporate
usage; Susie, Frank, or Jeffrey can comment on that. For them, the much
larger scale demonstrations that the HCLS IG is planning to do is the
way to go. No problem there, we just should have a clear mind on whom we
are aiming for...

What do you think?

Ivan

[1] http://www.tiddlywiki.com/
[2] http://simile.mit.edu/wiki/Exhibit

Leo Sauermann wrote:
> 
> Es begab sich aber da Kjetil Kjernsmo zur rechten Zeit 18.12.2006 13:30
> folgendes schrieb:
> 
>> Dear all,
>>
>> ...
>>
>> I think that at this point, running code is the most important
>> outreach we can do. The long tail still thinks that semweb is an
>> academic exercise, and they will not be awaken unless there is
>> applications that actually does something practical. More theory will
>> not have any effect on them, I believe.   
> 
> agreed on anything you say here.
> 
>> I think we should address those who are most likely to write running
>> code. Writing code is not within the scope of this group, I guess, but
>> to address the many web developers, I think finding ways to get
>> running code is the most important thing we can do to attract attention.
>>
>> I have two concrete proposals that I believe could have a good effect,   
> 
> ok, now the crucial bit: in your e-mail, I don't find them.
> 
> I have also one or two ideas, maybe they are the same. I would say we
> call each other and see if we can agree on ONE idea that we throw out as
> "people, this needs to be coded to show that RDF rocks".
> 
> skype:leobard
> 
> (we could also do this via e-mail, just takes longer)
> 
> best
> Leo
> 

-- 

Ivan Herman, W3C Semantic Web Activity Lead
URL: http://www.w3.org/People/Ivan/
PGP Key: http://www.cwi.nl/%7Eivan/AboutMe/pgpkey.html
FOAF: http://www.ivan-herman.net/foaf.rdf