Re: The Battle for Linked Data

On 3/26/12 4:16 PM, Giovanni Tummarello wrote:
> Hugh
>
>   here i share my recent experience with a big time (smart) tech
> manager of a big time (smart) enterprises we're working on.
>
> * He kept on telling us "we're doing liked data, linked data is hot"
> * I tried to convince him that no.. really liked data is this insane
> things that people should use 303,  link to "others" etc..

Why? What does 303 have to do in that conversation at that juncture?

Linked Data is about enhancing structured data representation via 
de-referencable URIs (hyperlinks).

> * He kept on saying na.. we've structured data, we're linking it
> inside the way we think its reasonable, we're importing other datasets
> and linked them.. we're doing linked data.

Yes, so he more than likely is.
> *i stopped arguing.. :)

Well you started the argument :-)

>   and now i used the term when talking to
> enterprises and they get it. The whole web protocol part neglected

Importing datasets and linking to them ?
>
> just sharing the way it is now. The term is just too good to pass.

THEREIN lies the problem, TimBL picked too sweet a moniker for an 
extremely powerful Web feature.

>   I
> would love a looser more comprehensive, more reusable, more useful
> definition so we could finally all use it in a way that's supported by
> some doc out there.. but until that doc exists..

So we are more than likely going to have to use *Hyperdata* at that 
point when Linked Data meme fidelity becomes important to those who 
assumed they were already exploiting and publishing hyperlink enhanced 
Linked Data :-)

Note: you might want to ask the same person if they know what an ODBC 
Data Source Name is and also if they know why its different from an ODBC 
connection string. I bet you will be amazed at their response.
>
> Gio

Kingsley
>
> On Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 5:49 PM, Hugh Glaser<hg@ecs.soton.ac.uk>  wrote:
>> So What is Linked Data?
>> And relatedly, Who Owns the Term "Linked Data"?
>> (If we used a URI for Linked Data, it might or might not be clearer.)
>>
>> Of course most people think that "What *I* think is Linked Data is Linked Data".
>> And by construction, if it is different it is not Linked Data.
>> Kingsley views the stuff people are talking about that does not, for example, conform to a policy that includes Range-14 as "Structured Data" - naming things is important, as we well know, and can serve to separate communities..
>>
>> There are clearly quite a few people who would like to relax things, and even go so far as to drop the IR thing completely, but still want to have the Linked Data badge on the resultant Project.
>> There are others for whom that is anathema.
>>
>> I actually think that what we are watching is the attempt of the Linked Data child to fly the nest from the Semantic Web.
>> Can it develop on its own, and possibly have different views to the Semantic Web, or must it always be obedient to the objectives of its parent?
>>
>> Often the objectives of Linked Data engineers are very different to the objectives of Semantic Web engineers.
>> (A Data Integration technology or a global AI system.)
>> So it is not surprising that the technologies they want might be different, and even incompatible.
>>
>> If I push the parent/child analogy beyond its limit, I can see the forthcoming TAG meeting as the moment at which the child proposes to reason with the parent to try to reach a compromise.
>> The TAG seems to be part of the ownership of the term "Linked Data", because the Linked Data people (whoever they are) so agree at the moment - but this is not a God-given right - I don't think there is any trade- or copy-right on the term.
>> A failure to arrive at something that the child finds acceptable can often lead to a complete rift, where the child leaves home entirely and even changes its name.
>>
>> And of course, after such a separation, exactly who would be using the term "Linked Data" to badge their activities?
>>
>> Like others in this discussion I am typing one-handed, after earlier biting my arm off in preference to entering the Range-14 discussion again.
>> But I do think this is an important moment for the Linked Data world.
>>
>> Best
>> Hugh
>> --
>> Hugh Glaser,
>>              Web and Internet Science
>>              Electronics and Computer Science,
>>              University of Southampton,
>>              Southampton SO17 1BJ
>> Work: +44 23 8059 3670, Fax: +44 23 8059 3045
>> Mobile: +44 75 9533 4155 , Home: +44 23 8061 5652
>> http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~hg/
>>
>>
>


-- 

Regards,

Kingsley Idehen	
Founder&  CEO
OpenLink Software
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