Re: Potential Home for LOD Data Sets - is it Open?

Hi Hugh,

Note sure I follow your argument, as LOD or DBpedia in this specific  
case is free  ... if you either:

1. Access the live service hosted by OpenLink at http://dbpedia.org
2. Setup your own DBpedia instance locally as detailed at:
	http://docs.openlinksw.com/virtuoso/ 
rdfperformancetuning.html#rdfperfloadingdbpedia

Note we are also going to provide a DBpedia installer to make the  
setting up of a local instance an easier process.

If you want to use the Virtuoso DBpedia EC2 AMI, then as with other  
services in the Amazon Cloud you pay for Data transfer and/or a  
subscription fee to the application owner, which by the way is for  
the Virtuoso Server Instance hosting the DBpedia data and not DBpedia  
itself.

Also, "open" does not necessarily imply "free" in my opinion, as I  
see it more as referring to the means of accessing the data being via  
"open" standards ...

Best Regards
Hugh Williams
Professional Services
OpenLink Software
Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Support: http://support.openlinksw.com
Forums: http://boards.openlinksw.com/support



On 6 Dec 2008, at 21:11, Hugh Glaser wrote:

>
> Sorry, but you probably knew this was coming...
>
> The esw page starts by saying:
> "The Open Data Movement aims at making data freely available to  
> everyone."
> This is the context for the LOD activity.
>
> Personally I am quite happy with an LD world and a LOD world, but I  
> think
> that some people have a deep commitment to the Open.
> At the very least, we should be quite clear about whether we are  
> talking LOD
> or LD.
> So the recent postings suggesting the questions and answers for an  
> FAQ (well
> done guys!) need to be (more?) careful about the Open. This is  
> especially
> true because the data providers will have very genuine concerns  
> about the
> work Open when we talk LOD.
> I wonder if it would be better, for these purposes to drop the Open  
> most of
> the time, and just talk LD?
>
> But to get back to the Amazon world.
> It looks to me like it is being proposed as a LOD facility.
> I think it is a wonderful thing to do, but it is hard for me to  
> consider it
> Open in any real sense.
> If I was to grab lots of linked data and then start to offer it to the
> community, but say to you that you needed to rent some server space  
> from me
> in order to use it, I think there would be a lot of complaints that  
> I should
> not be using the word Open at all.
> The Amazon situation, as far as I can see, is no different.
> And I would say that the idea they are being "generous" in letting  
> people
> host data is simply part of a hard-nosed business model, where they  
> will
> draw people into their (paid-for) world, which is fine, but hardly  
> Open.
>
> So I am very happy for this activity to be badged as Linked Data,  
> and I hope
> it is very successful.
> But from my point of view, please don't call anything part of the  
> LOD world
> unless it offers me free access over http.
> I am happy to be told I am alone in these concerns, or have  
> misunderstood
> the terms of use of the Amazon cloud, and if so will then modify my
> perceptions accordingly.
>
> Best
> Hugh
>
>