- From: Knud Hinnerk Möller <knud.moeller@deri.org>
- Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:29:29 +0100
- To: Kingsley Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>
- Cc: "Jeff Finkelstein, Customer Paradigm" <jeff@customerparadigm.com>, martin.hepp@ebusiness-unibw.org, 'Danny Ayers' <danny.ayers@gmail.com>, bill.roberts@planet.nl, public-lod@w3.org, 'semantic-web at W3C' <semantic-web@w3c.org>
On 25.06.2009, at 19:11, Kingsley Idehen wrote: > Jeff Finkelstein, Customer Paradigm wrote: >> Martin- >> >> I agree that the .htaccess file is a big stumbling block for many >> people >> with low-cost hosting. Would a lightweight php-based application >> that could >> write to the .htaccess / create the RDF file work to solve this >> easily? >> > Sorry, it won't. The issue is actual access to the .htaccess file. > Thus, you have to move the metadata expressed in RDF into the > (X)HTML docs that are being published based on the > existing .htaccess config. What I meant in my earlier mail is that we can have content negotiation even without manipulating .htaccess (as far as I understand, content negotiation through .htaccess is imperfect anyway). It can be done in code, e.g. in php. The SW Dog Food site [1] uses a third-party php class [2] for this, I think Neologism [3] uses the same. Of course, a solution based on this would still require to be able to upload files to the server. Knud [1] http://data.semanticweb.org [2] http://ptlis.net/source/php-content-negotiation/ [3] http://neologism.deri.ie > > Even when the above is done, you will need RDFa processors within > user agents (or standalone) for the Linked Data deployment to fully > materialize. > > > Kingsley >> Thanks, >> >> -- Jeff >> ________________________________________ >> Jeff Finkelstein 303.499.9318 x 8282 >> mailto:jeff@customerparadigm.com >> http://www.customerparadigm.com >> >> Customer Paradigm >> 5353 Manhattan Circle, Suite 103 Boulder, Colorado 80303 >> Recently Featured Websites: >> http://www.adventurerabbi.org >> http://www.boulderjews.org >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: semantic-web-request@w3.org [mailto:semantic-web- >> request@w3.org] On >> Behalf Of Martin Hepp (UniBW) >> Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2009 10:44 AM >> To: Danny Ayers >> Cc: bill.roberts@planet.nl; public-lod@w3.org; semantic-web at W3C >> Subject: .htaccess a major bottleneck to Semantic Web adoption / >> Was: Re: >> RDFa vs RDF/XML and content negotiation >> Hi all: >> >> After about two months of helping people generate RDF/XML metadata >> for their >> businesses using the GoodRelations annotator [1], I have quite some >> evidence >> that the current best practices of using .htaccess are a MAJOR >> bottleneck >> for the adoption of Semantic Web technology. >> >> Just some data: >> - We have several hundred entries in the annotator log - most >> people spend >> 10 or more minutes to create a reasonable description of themselves. >> - Even though they all operate some sort of Web sites, less than 30 >> % of >> them manage to upload/publish a single *.rdf file in their root >> directory. >> - Of those 30%, only a fraction manage to set up content negotiation >> properly, even though we provide a step-by-step recipe. >> >> The effects are >> - URIs that are not dereferencable, >> - incorrect media types and >> and other problems. >> >> When investigating the causes and trying to help people, we >> encountered a >> variety of configurations and causes that we did not expect. It >> turned out >> that helping people just managing this tiny step of publishing >> Semantic Web >> data would turn into a full-time job for 1 - 2 administrators. >> >> Typical causes of problems are >> - Lack of privileges for .htaccess (many cheap hosting packages >> give limited >> or no access to .htaccess) >> - Users without Unix background had trouble name a file so that it >> begins >> with a dot >> - Microsoft IIS require completely different recipes >> - Many users have access just at a CMS level >> >> Bottomline: >> - For researchers in the field, it is a doable task to set up an >> Apache >> server so that it serves RDF content according to current best >> practices. >> - For most people out there in reality, this is regularly a >> prohibitively >> difficult task, both because of a lack of skills and a variety in the >> technical environments that turns into an engineering challenge >> what is easy >> on the textbook-level. >> >> As a consequence, we will modify our tool so that it generates >> "dummy" RDFa code with span/div that *just* represents the meta- >> data without >> interfering with the presentation layer. >> That can then be inserted as code snippets via copy-and-paste to >> any XHTML >> document. >> >> Any opinions? >> >> Best >> Martin >> >> [1] http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/tools/goodrelations-annotator/ >> >> Danny Ayers wrote: >> >>> Thank you for the excellent questions, Bill. >>> >>> Right now IMHO the best bet is probably just to pick whichever >>> format you are most comfortable with (yup "it depends") and use >>> that as the single source, transforming perhaps with scripts to >>> generate the alternate representations for conneg. >>> >>> As far as I'm aware we don't yet have an easy templating engine >>> for RDFa, so I suspect having that as the source is probably a >>> good choice for typical Web applications. >>> >>> As mentioned already GRDDL is available for transforming on the >>> fly, though I'm not sure of the level of client engine support at >>> present. >>> Ditto providing a SPARQL endpoint is another way of maximising the >>> surface area of the data. >>> >>> But the key step has clearly been taken, that decision to publish >>> data directly without needing the human element to interpret it. >>> >>> I claim *win* for the Semantic Web, even if it'll still be a few >>> years before we see applications exploiting it in a way that >>> provides real benefit for the end user. >>> >>> my 2 cents. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> Danny. >>> >>> >>> >> >> -- >> -------------------------------------------------------------- >> martin hepp >> e-business & web science research group >> universitaet der bundeswehr muenchen >> >> e-mail: mhepp@computer.org >> phone: +49-(0)89-6004-4217 >> fax: +49-(0)89-6004-4620 >> www: http://www.unibw.de/ebusiness/ (group) >> http://www.heppnetz.de/ (personal) >> skype: mfhepp twitter: mfhepp >> >> Check out the GoodRelations vocabulary for E-Commerce on the Web of >> Data! >> = >> = >> = >> ===================================================================== >> >> Webcast: >> http://www.heppnetz.de/projects/goodrelations/webcast/ >> >> Talk at the Semantic Technology Conference 2009: "Semantic Web- >> based E-Commerce: The GoodRelations Ontology" >> http://tinyurl.com/semtech-hepp >> >> Tool for registering your business: >> http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/tools/goodrelations-annotator/ >> >> Overview article on Semantic Universe: >> http://tinyurl.com/goodrelations-universe >> >> Project page and resources for developers: >> http://purl.org/goodrelations/ >> >> Tutorial materials: >> Tutorial at ESWC 2009: The Web of Data for E-Commerce in One Day: A >> Hands-on >> Introduction to the GoodRelations Ontology, RDFa, and Yahoo! >> SearchMonkey >> >> http://www.ebusiness-unibw.org/wiki/GoodRelations_Tutorial_ESWC2009 >> >> >> >> >> >> >> **************************************************************************** >> ******** >> This footnote confirms that this email message has been scanned by >> PineApp >> Mail-SeCure for the presence of malicious code, vandals & computer >> viruses. >> **************************************************************************** >> ******** >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > > > -- > > > Regards, > > Kingsley Idehen Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen > President & CEO OpenLink Software Web: http://www.openlinksw.com > > > > > ------------------------------------------------- Knud Möller, MA +353 - 91 - 495086 Smile Group: http://smile.deri.ie Digital Enterprise Research Institute National University of Ireland, Galway Institiúid Taighde na Fiontraíochta Digití Ollscoil na hÉireann, Gaillimh
Received on Thursday, 25 June 2009 18:30:10 UTC