W3C Community Group: Data Façades

Dear Semantic Web community,

We are excited to announce the formation of a W3C Community Group focused on developing the Façade-X technology under the name "Data Façades" [1].

Façade-X, initially introduced at SEMANTICS 2021 [2] and successfully implemented by the SPARQL Anything project [3], provides a simple yet powerful, homogeneous view over diverse and heterogeneous data sources (e.g., CSV, JSON, XML, and many others). With the recent v1.0.0 release of SPARQL Anything, the time was right to work on the long-term stability and widespread adoption of this approach by developing an open, vendor-neutral technology.

The Façade-X concept was born to allow SPARQL users to query data in any structured format in plain SPARQL. Therefore, the choice of a W3C community group to lead efforts on specifications is just natural. Specifications will enhance its reliability, foster innovation, and encourage various vendors and projects—including graph database developers — to provide their own compatible implementations.

The primary goals of the Data Façades Community Group is to:


  *
Define the core specification of the Façade-X method.
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Define Standard Mappings: Formalize the required mappings and profiles for connecting Façade-X to common data formats.
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Define the specification of the query dialect: Provide a reference for the SPARQL dialect, configuration conventions (like SERVICE IRIs), and the functions/magic properties used.
  *
Establish Governance: Create a monitored, robust process for adding support for new data formats.
  *
Foster Collaboration: Build connections with relevant W3C groups (e.g., RDF & SPARQL, Data Shapes) and encourage involvement from developers, businesses, and adopters.

If you would like to be a founding member of the W3C Data Façades Community Group and contribute to the standardization efforts, please join us [1].

Sincerely,

Enrico Daga (on behalf of the group)

[1] https://www.w3.org/groups/cg/fx/
[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354393838_Facade-X_An_Opinionated_Approach_to_SPARQL_Anything
[3] https://sparql-anything.cc/






--
Enrico Daga, PhD
Senior Research Fellow
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University
http://enridaga.net
http://sparql-anything.cc