Re: The need for RDF in Linked Data

On Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:26:35 +0200, David Booth <david@dbooth.org> wrote:

> There seems to be some persistent misunderstanding about the role of RDF  
> in Linked Data, as evidenced by comments like the following:
>
>    "RDF is just one implementation of Linked Data"

TL;DR: What Pat said (without calling anybody stupid ;) ).

RDF *is* just one implementation. But it turns out that in order to join  
things up (data, say) it is important to have some way of making the  
connections.

In practice, RDF is a very common way, that appears to be the dominant  
"transport" paradigm. If you want your data to link to all the other data,  
you need a way to get it into RDF.

As Phil said, you can do that for more or less anything - it ain't rocket  
surgery. Although getting the model right to make it really link up well  
requires thinking. More or less everyone I have seen make their first data  
model for RDF got something wrong. (This isn't an inherent property of  
RDF, it is an inherent property of linking lots of data together.)

And in order to use other data in your world, the way to get the mostest  
stuff in is through RDF.

Just as RDF people spent the first decade of RDF each rewriting it with a  
syntax they liked more (and therefore assumed the rest of the world  
would), it would be possible to reinvent the whole infrastructure for  
linking data. After all, RDF wasn't the first system of its kind either.

I just think that doing that work is likely to be wasted time - at least  
in the vast majority of cases.

As a concrete example, microdata was sort of intended to make it possible  
to link data without RDF. And it turns out that one of its biggest  
limitations in practical usage - and there is a lot - is the extent to  
which it doesn't readily work directly as RDF.

just my 2 копейки

chaals

-- 
Charles McCathie Nevile - Consultant (web standards) CTO Office, Yandex
       chaals@yandex-team.ru         Find more at http://yandex.com

Received on Tuesday, 18 June 2013 08:07:23 UTC