Re: Linked Data Mash-a-thon

Wow. I was in a meeting for 2 hours and my email got flooded.

I'm glad that this discussion came up, but I don't think this is such a big
deal.

First of all. I thought to myself (and sorry for being repetitive), if the
gurus of the semantic web are together for 5 days, how about we take
advantage of that and do something *cool*. I know that ISWC is a
research/academic conference and understand that the term "hacking" may not
be well received.   But cool for whom?

Kingsley said: Linked Data meme is not about programmers solely. Its
supposed to be inherently inclusive :-)

For everybody who is not inclusive!.. which IMHO.. is about everybody else
except the semantic web community. We (the semantic web community) live in a
bubble (there, I said it!). If you talk to people outside our bubble (the
rest of the world), they think we are crazy. I know Kingsley will cut right
in and object to what I am saying but this is my real life example. FYI,
I've started the Semantic Web Austin group, we are now a non-profit, we have
industry partners, advisory board members  so I can say that "selling" the
semantic web in order to get support is HARD because we, the people in the
bubble, have not been able to convey the semantic web to the mainstream. I
urge everybody to try to explain what Linked Data and the Semantic Web is 1)
web developer 2) CEO 3) VC investors 4) my parents! If they can all
understand, I want to know what you told them. I still haven't been able to
do this successfully.

We need to bridge the semantic web community with the rest of the world.
Linked Data is starting to get traction, but we still don't have
*cool*things that can show 1) web developer 2) CEO 3) VC investors 4)
my parents!
Well actually, http://dbpedia.neofonie.de/ this is really cool that all 4
groups would see a value. So... can we get, as Giovanni says "those that
instead "would get bored otherwise" usually funnel into these things", to
build something *cool*?

Pat Hayes said: How about calling it a  Data Link-a-thon ?

I don't know how much this would imply of linking data, but I like the name.

Giovanni Tummarello said:p.s. as i was saying to juan i might be able to put
some $$$ for a prize if we really do it (need to check with accounting)

Wow, that would be awesome!

Hopefully we can come up with a neutral name that ISWC organizers can accept


Juan Sequeda, Ph.D Student
Dept. of Computer Sciences
The University of Texas at Austin
www.juansequeda.com
www.semanticwebaustin.org


On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 3:36 PM, Kingsley Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>wrote:

> Brian Manley wrote:
>
>> On Sep 16, 2009, at 11:48 AM, Kingsley Idehen wrote:
>>
>>  Juan Sequeda wrote:
>>>
>>>> The objective of this idea is to show that cool things can be done with
>>>> Linked Data, and lets take advantage that the semantic web hackers are all
>>>> together at the same place.
>>>>
>>> Objective was clear, my gripe was the regressive theme of data mashing.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> In other words, lets rephrase this: a Linked Data Hack-a-thon
>>>>
>>> Why Hack when you can Mesh?
>>>
>>> Hacking is overrated, overloaded, and easily miscontrued, seriously :-)
>>>
>>>
>> Kingsley, I find it rather ironic that someone whose cryptic,
>> buzzword-overloaded, often unparsable messages here, on his blog and on
>> twitter would complain about misconstrued terms or less-than-crystal-clear
>> communication.
>>
> As context improves on the Web my messages will be clearer. The great thing
> is that I won't even have to edit (bar typos), they'll just get clearer :-)
>
>>
>> If Juan wants to call it a Mashup, Hack-a-thon, or whatever...who cares?
>>
> Some do, its an event aimed at an audience. And audience in this context is
> supposed to imply: burgeoning pool of Linked Data meme enthusiasts.
>
>>
>>  Do Data Architects, Systems Designers, Data Integrators, and people with
>>> other data oriented technical skill sets not have a look-in here? I don't
>>> think these profiles gravitate to events that carry the  "Hacking" theme.
>>>
>>>
>> Hell yeah, "hacking" is great term to use. Don't be such a stick in the
>> mud. ;)
>>
> I am a proud "stick in the mud" re. this matter.  I would like this
> community to pay attention to "inclusion".
>
>
>
> Kingsley
>
>>
>>  Kingsley
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Juan Sequeda, Ph.D Student
>>>> Dept. of Computer Sciences
>>>> The University of Texas at Austin
>>>> www.juansequeda.com <http://www.juansequeda.com>
>>>> www.semanticwebaustin.org <http://www.semanticwebaustin.org>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 10:20 AM, Kingsley Idehen <
>>>> kidehen@openlinksw.com <mailto:kidehen@openlinksw.com>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>   Juan Sequeda wrote:
>>>>
>>>>       Hi everybody,
>>>>
>>>>       Chatting with John Goodwin, and idea came up of organizing a
>>>>       Linked Data mash-a-thon during ISWC. There is a lot of Linked
>>>>       Data out there, enough tools to do cool stuff, and this is the
>>>>       biggest semantic web meeting, so why not show the world the
>>>>       cool things that can be done with Linked Data, in a short
>>>>       period of time. I haven't thought about details, but this
>>>>       could run for the whole conference, or have an afternoon
>>>>       session where everybody comes in and codes up an mashup. We
>>>>       can then showcase what we have done as 1 min lightning talks.
>>>>       My objective is to get people out of this community excited
>>>>       about Linked Data and what they can do with it.
>>>>
>>>>       Anybody interested in participating and/or helping organize.
>>>>
>>>>       Juan Sequeda, Ph.D Student
>>>>       Dept. of Computer Sciences
>>>>       The University of Texas at Austin
>>>>       www.juansequeda.com <http://www.juansequeda.com>
>>>>       <http://www.juansequeda.com>
>>>>       www.semanticwebaustin.org <http://www.semanticwebaustin.org>
>>>>       <http://www.semanticwebaustin.org>
>>>>
>>>>   Why Mash-a-thon when Linked Data is ultimately about Data Meshing?
>>>>   Words matter a great deal when introducing critical stages of
>>>>   evolution witning any innovation continuum (which includes the
>>>>   Web), really.
>>>>
>>>>   You don't need Linked Data for Mashups. The literal realm of Web
>>>>   2.0 technologies handle that fine.
>>>>
>>>>   Linked Data is supposed to be about addressing those things aren't
>>>>   handled by Mashups -- which are simply about brute force
>>>>   presentation layer confined data recombinations, with code at the
>>>>   terminal.
>>>>
>>>>   I would only be interested in a Linked Data oriented Mesh-a-thon :-)
>>>>
>>>>   --
>>>>
>>>>   Regards,
>>>>
>>>>   Kingsley Idehen       Weblog:
>>>>   http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen<http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/%7Ekidehen>
>>>>   <http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/%7Ekidehen>
>>>>   President & CEO OpenLink Software     Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Kingsley Idehen          Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen<http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/%7Ekidehen>
>>> President & CEO OpenLink Software     Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
> --
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Kingsley Idehen       Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen<http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/%7Ekidehen>
> President & CEO OpenLink Software     Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
>
>
>
>
>