The document discusses the evolution of the web from a "Web of Documents" to a "Semantic Web." It argues that while the vision of a Semantic Web proposed in 2001 has yet to be fully realized, the pieces are falling into place. Examples of linked open data projects show how structured data from sources like Wikipedia, the BBC, and government data is being interconnected using semantic web technologies. The use of semantics on the web brings value by sometimes solving narrow problems and linking data beyond specific applications.

1. Towards a Web of Data?
Paul Miller
The Cloud of Data
paul.miller@cloudofdata.com
cloudofdata.com

2. Today’s a “Web of Documents” ?
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/calliope/306564541/

3. Tomorrow’s “Semantic Web,” 2001-style!
http://tr.im/timbl
http://tr.im/hendler
cloudofdata.com www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-semantic-web

4. Pipe Dream?
cloudofdata.com

5. Or are the pieces falling into place?
cloudofdata.com

6. cloudofdata.com bit.ly/gAfwK

7. cloudofdata.com

8. itinerary… enriched with maps, weather, etc
cloudofdata.com

9. itinerary… in calendar, on iPhone, etc
cloudofdata.com

10. simply making an existing task easier and richer
text processing, back-end knowledge, APIs
semantic knowledge of place, time, etc
valuable data on intentions, choices, preferences and more
adds value, without shouting about it.
cloudofdata.com

11. From DARPA’s CALO Project… to the iPhone
cloudofdata.com bit.ly/dawiYQ

12. cloudofdata.com

13. voice recognition
lots and lots of data… ideally via APIs
keeps data fresh, increases opportunities for cash, makes it an SEP
leverage knowledge of time, place, and history
‘a cab from here to work, tomorrow morning’
semantic smarts
‘cheap sushi’ and ‘great sushi’ require analysis of different data, and
may result in different recommendations.
cloudofdata.com

14. understanding language...
cloudofdata.com bit.ly/2WdN7w

15. finding meaning and associations in text
cloudofdata.com

16. relatively expensive, computationally
attempting to understand language and infer meaning
promising technology, but...
cloudofdata.com

17. the first big VC engagement with ‘Semantic Web’
cloudofdata.com bit.ly/bncbEA & bit.ly/9iuTKV

18. community, meet canonical
cloudofdata.com

19. adding structure to information
cloudofdata.com

20. exposing via APIs. Glue for the Web.
cloudofdata.com

21. canonical source for community-enriched data
commercial interest
free, open, unencumbered… and available for download or linking.
cloudofdata.com

22. cloudofdata.com $100 million
$200

23. cloudofdata.com bit.ly/am57RN [& bit.ly/bqEWsk]

24. Data tends to remain siloised.
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/wyoming_1/169388525/

25. wider movement towards ‘Open’ Data
“Stop hugging
your data...”
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, 2009
bit.ly/ymmpj
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/_-amy-_/3167333250/

26. previous examples not like this...
http://tr.im/timbl
http://tr.im/hendler
cloudofdata.com www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-semantic-web

27. W3C-driven effort. More used - and useful - than PR might imply
URI - 1994
XML - 1998
RDF - 1999/ 2004
OWL - 2004
SPARQL - 2008
Applications - 2007/8
cloudofdata.com Image © World Wide Web Consortium

28. “J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit”
cloudofdata.com

29. http://dbpedia.org/page/J._R._R._Tolkien
J.R.R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit
predicate
http://dbpedia.org/page/The_Hobbit
cloudofdata.com

30. eg Wikipedia data
boxes to DBpedia
cloudofdata.com

31. eg UK Gov
bit.ly/ztOed
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/lorentey/1438477358/

32. eg BBC
cloudofdata.com bbc.co.uk/music/

33. eg NY Times
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/scobleizer/2510349462/

34. Data OPEN for use and re-use… But that’s not all...
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/virtualsugar/316200555/

35. Data LINKED to other places outside firewall
eg BBC trusts and relies upon MusicBrainz
bit.ly/9tBJGH
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/foxypar4/2124673642/

36. “the Web done
right”
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, 2008
harks back to TimBL’s original vision
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/tanaka/3212373419/
for a Read/Write Web

37. Use URIs to name things
Use HTTP URIs so that they can be followed
When someone follows a URI, provide useful information
Include links to other URIs, so that more can be discovered.
cloudofdata.com www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html

38. ECS
South-
Sem- Wiki-
BBC Surge ampton
LIBRIS Web- company
Playcount Radio Central RDF
Data ohloh
Resex
Doap- Buda-
Music- space Semantic ReSIST
brainz Audio- pest Eurécom
Project
Flickr Web.org
MySpace Scrobbler QDOS SW BME Wiki
exporter
Wrapper
Conference IRIT
Corpus Toulouse
RAE National
BBC BBC Crunch 2001 Science
FOAF SIOC ACM
BBC Music Later + John Base Revyu Foundation
Jamendo Peel profiles Sites
TOTP Open-
Guides
DBLP
flickr RKB
Project
Pub Geo- Euro- wrappr Explorer
Guten- Virtuoso
Guide names stat Pisa CORDIS
berg Sponger eprints
BBC
Programmes Open
Calais
RKB
riese World Linked
ECS
Magna- Fact- MDB IEEE New-
South-
tune book
ampton castle
RDF Book
DBpedia Mashup
Linked
GeoData lingvoj Freebase LAAS-
US CiteSeer
Census CNRS
W3C DBLP
Data IBM
WordNet Hannover
UniRef
GEO
UMBEL Species DBLP
Gov-
Track Berlin
Reactome
LinkedCT UniParc
Open Taxonomy
Cyc Yago Drug
PROSITE
Daily Bank
Med
Pub GeneID
Chem
Homolo KEGG UniProt
Gene
Pfam ProDom
Disea- CAS
Gene
some
ChEBI Ontology
Symbol OMIM
Inter
Pro
UniSTS PDB
HGNC
MGI
PubMed
As of July 2009
cloudofdata.com richard.cyganiak.de/2007/10/lod/lod-datasets_2009-07-14.pdf

39. Open Data need not be Linked Data
(eg US Data.gov)
Linked Data need not be Open Data
(licensing hell)
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/joevare/3743653601/

40. how much mis-licensed?
‘Copyright’ MAY NOT APPLY!
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/ldodds/4043803502/

41. cut costs, mass produce, standardise
- create opportunities for growth
What does this mean for Enterprise?
Data as Commodity
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/starrett/3123216825/

42. Microsoft Data Centre, Dublin With data in the Cloud,
barriers get lower.
It’s easier to TRY...
cloudofdata.com www.datacenterknowledge.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/aerial-1000.jpg

43. Boundaries blur, walls (like this one) fall.
Data and processes move back and forth.
Fears eventually diminish.
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/andrei_dimofte/1590561883/

44. “from Data Centre
to data-centric”
JP Rangaswami, 2009
data is a cost
we treat all data as Core and confidential
most actually Context and a commodity
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/dsifry/2104378305/
Think Different!

45. Closing Thoughts
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/king-edward/2152782252/

46. semantics on the web bring value
sometimes solving quite narrow problems
The Semantic Web is part of that
but only part
Open Data creates opportunities, and challenges business models
Linked Data takes us beyond specific applications
This isn’t just for the public sector.
cloudofdata.com www.flickr.com/photos/king-edward/2152782252/

47. cloud of data
Thank you Download this presentation
slideshare.net/cloudofdata
Dr Paul Miller
The Cloud of Data
paul.miller@cloudofdata.com
Made on a
skype: cloudofdata
Mac
phone: +44 7769 740083
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