Re: What would you build with a web of data?

I'm going to set aside the question of problems and consider
*possibilities* for a moment.

I think linked open data offers profound opportunities for
community-driven applications; I'll use citizen science as a specific
example.

I was reminded of this as I listened to this week's episode of
"Material World," in which "...Quentin Cooper hears how records from
two and a half centuries of nature-watching reveal the gradual advance
of spring, and what this says about climate change..." <see
http://bit.ly/ccFVFM>

Check out the applet at nature's calendar
<http://www.naturescalendar.org.uk/>, based on user-contributed data,
and imagine what is possible both in the citizen-driven science realm
and across domains, into other areas.

To me the magic of linked data will be revealed in the applications
that are created in a matter of hours (if that!) upon hearing about a
particular data source becoming available (bird sightings! flowers
blooming! real-time bike race or marathon results! celebrity
sightings! ) and published as linked data, thus allowing enthusiastic
meshers and mashers to create and share "applications" which may
become popular.

To power this, I think we a class of platform that is accessible as
blogs for non-technical enthusiasts to publish, mesh and mash. Such a
platform need to be more that data hosts; they must also allow users
to easily create shareable "active behaviors" that filter and
otherwise transform data the way Yahoo! Pipes diddle with feeds and
other sources --- think Google Desktop Gadgets for Linked Data.

-- 
John S. Erickson, Ph.D.
http://bitwacker.wordpress.com
olyerickson@gmail.com
Twitter: @olyerickson

Received on Saturday, 10 April 2010 18:51:49 UTC