August 10th, 2009

Moving Data.gov towards the Semantic Web

Posted by Paul Miller @ 3:46 am

Categories: Open Data, Podcasts, Research, Semantic Web, Semantic Web People, Standards, Talking Semantics, Web 3.0

Tags: Government, Semantic Web, Podcasts, RDF, XML, Internet, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Paul Miller

Government transparency in all its forms would appear to be very much in vogue at present, spanning everything from the Obama administration’s Data.gov portal and Prime Ministerial pronouncements in the UK Parliament to municipal proclamations of openness in Vancouver and compelling grass-roots demonstrations by activists and even newspapers.

At the heart of many of today’s initiatives lie programmes to surface Government data for use and re-use by third parties. The ‘open’ in ‘Open Data’ is, of course, a very loaded term, and I’ve looked before at some of the ways in which data might become ‘open’ whilst remaining effectively useless. Nevertheless, Governments’ current enthusiasm for being seen to embrace transparency should certainly be both welcomed and encouraged, and there are real opportunities to work with Government in ensuring that today’s transparency fervour continues undiminished, whether by omission or commission.

Given the complex and varied nature of the data involved, and the obvious linkages between the entities (you and I, our communities, our schools, our hospitals) described in numerous different databases, there’s a clear opportunity for technologies and approaches from the Semantic Web community to play a significant role in simplifying the whole process of moving these legacy databases online.

Already interested in Open Government from previous roles, and (obviously!) committed to encouraging real-world adoption of semantic technologies, I’ve spent some time recently talking to a number of those involved. A number of those conversations are now available as podcasts, and I’ll continue to seek out fresh examples and perspectives to share.

My most recent podcast conversation, released today, is with Professor Jim Hendler and Dr Li Ding of the Tetherless World Constellation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. The team at Rensselaer have been working with some of the US Federal Government’s data sets on Data.gov, and so far they’ve converted sixteen data sets from their original form, resulting in 2,927,398,352 freely available RDF triples and a number of demonstration applications.

Other conversations already released in the series include;

• David Eaves, talking about Vancouver’s commitment to Open Data
• John Sheridan, Head of e-Services at the UK Government’s Office of Public Sector Information, talking about his Department’s efforts to get Government data online
• Mark Birbeck, talking about work with the UK Government’s Central Office of Information to embed lightweight RDFa into workflows and web pages

Each offers an example of ways in which ‘open data’ contributes to Government transparency, or to increasing the value of the massive sunk investment in collecting, managing and curating the data upon which Governments depend. The Semantic Web’s notion of Linked Data (whether actually in RDF or not! ) offers a means to increase the utility of the data we have, without a massive programme of reengineering the systems used to manage it. The examples we see today, and the work of the individuals and teams with whom I have been speaking, will teach us a lot about how to make this work at Government scale.

July 14th, 2009

New open source Semantic Web store from Garlik capable of enterprise scale

Posted by Paul Miller @ 5:20 am

Categories: Podcasts, Semantic Web, Semantic Web Companies, Talking Semantics

Tags: Open Source, Semantic Web, RDF, XML, Internet, Software/Web Development, Web Development, Paul Miller

An oft-repeated concern in discussing large-scale deployment of Semantic Web ideas is that of ’scale.’ With many of the better known data stores upon which the Semantic Web depends capable of storing only tens or at best a few hundreds of millions of RDF triples, it can be difficult to argue that the technology is fit for real-world deployment at scale.

There are, of course, different ways of managing data, and it’s not always necessary to store everything in one massive store… but for those concerned about scale today’s news from UK-based Garlik may well put their minds at rest.

The company has taken their internally developed (and massively scalable) RDF triple store and released it to the world under an Open Source license as 4store.

I spoke with the company’s CEO and Head of Architecture just ahead of the launch, to learn more about the system and their motivation behind sharing it.

The result has just been released as a podcast.

July 9th, 2009

Semantic Web Gang podcast looks back at the Semantic Technology Conference

Posted by Paul Miller @ 4:48 am

Categories: Podcasts, Semantic Web, Semantic Web Gang

Tags: Conference, Semantic Web, Podcasts, Internet, Paul Miller

June’s episode of the regular Semantic Web Gang podcast was recorded on stage at the Semantic Technology Conference in San Jose.

Audio and video of the session is now available, with Gang members and conference organiser Tony Shaw engaging in a discussion of the event’s highlights and the underlying trends at work.

May 29th, 2009

Bing is not alone; similar techniques alive and well in existing vertical search

Posted by Paul Miller @ 4:10 am

Categories: Commercialisation, Podcasts, Semantic Web Companies, Talking Semantics

Tags: Endeca Technologies Inc., Technique, Robin, Podcasts, Productivity, Search, Internet, Paul Miller

Microsoft’s Bing is attracting plenty of interest today, and perhaps deservedly so as it brings some interesting fresh ideas to the world of generic search engines. Whether it is sufficiently compelling to break our deeply ingrained association of ’search’ with ‘Google’ remains to be seen.

It should be remembered, of course, that broadly similar approaches are already taken to managing and navigating data inside the data centres of large corporations where Autonomy, FAST, Endeca and their peers provide powerful capabilities.

I recorded a podcast with Endeca Chief Scientist Daniel Tunkelang in January and, by chance, spoke with Robin Johnson yesterday. Robin is CEO of FT Search, part of the Financial Times Group, and responsible for a new vertical search tool called Newssift. Newssift combines components from various technology companies (including Endeca, Nstein, Lexalytics and ReelTwo) to offer a useful means of learning more about businesses and the external factors affecting them.

May 22nd, 2009

Semantic Web Gang podcast discusses Wolfram Alpha and Google's Rich Snippets

Posted by Paul Miller @ 6:14 am

Categories: Podcasts, Semantic Web Gang

Tags: Google Inc., Podcast, Mainstream Media, Semantic Web, Internet, Paul Miller

This month has seen Google announce ‘Rich Snippets‘ and Wolfram Research release Alpha to a flurry of mainstream media coverage; both are of interest to those working on the Semantic Web.

This month’s episode of the Semantic Web Gang takes a look at both stories, and Gang members share their impressions on the news and what it might mean moving forward.

Next month’s Semantic Web Gang will be coming live from the Semantic Technology Conference in San Jose.

April 20th, 2009

Can semantic technologies help brands profit from social media?

Posted by Paul Miller @ 8:16 am

Categories: Commercialisation, Podcasts, Semantic Web, Talking Semantics

Tags: Brand, Social Media, Branding, Semantic Web, Marketing, Internet, Paul Miller

In my latest podcast interview with those shaping our evolving engagement with Semantic Technologies, I speak with Eric Hillerbrand.

Drawing upon years of experience in the development and deployment of Semantic Web solutions, Eric has spent the past few years considering the ways in which semantic technologies could bring structure and value to the increasingly visible online conversations around products and brands.

Have a listen, and share your views on the ways in which this might impact your brand, or your interaction with those of others.

April 16th, 2009

The Semantic Web Gang discuss ontologies

Posted by Paul Miller @ 1:42 pm

Categories: Podcasts, Semantic Web, Semantic Web Gang

Tags: Ontology, Semantic Web, Strategy, Internet, Management, Paul Miller

Back in October I wrote about the first Vocabulary Camp, or VoCamp. These informal gatherings have gone from strength to strength, and the fourth is currently underway on the Spanish island of Ibiza.

A report from the island by Yahoo’s Peter Mika begins this month’s episode of the Semantic Web Gang podcast, and leads to a wide-ranging discussion of the role that vocabularies and ontologies continue to play within the Semantic Web. The very nature of these ad hoc VoCamps says much, though, about the way in which attitudes have shifted away from expectations that massive all-encompassing ontologies are the best way to help machines to reason about the world around them.

April 15th, 2009

Leigh Dodds talks about Talis Connected Commons

Posted by Paul Miller @ 11:05 am

Categories: Open Data, Podcasts, Semantic Web, Semantic Web Companies, Talking Semantics

Tags: Connected Corp., Podcasts, Internet, Paul Miller

I wrote about Talis’ Connected Commons last month, and today spent some time talking with the company’s Platform Programme Manager, Leigh Dodds.

The conversation has just been released as a podcast which looks at the rationale behind the company’s offer and the specific licensing choices that beneficiaries are asked to make.

Have a listen, and see if the Connected Commons might help your next project.

Disclaimer: Talis is my former employer

April 8th, 2009

Ivan Herman discusses Semantic Web activity at the World Wide Web Consortium

Posted by Paul Miller @ 8:33 am

Categories: Podcasts, Semantic Web, Semantic Web People, Standards, Talking Semantics, W3C

Tags: W3C, Ivan Herman, Semantic Web, Internet, Paul Miller

Ivan Herman is Semantic Web Activity Lead at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and in this podcast he talks about a range of current activities across the Semantic Web community.

March 25th, 2009

Jeff Pollock discusses his new book, The Semantic Web for Dummies

Posted by Paul Miller @ 4:28 am

Categories: Open Data, Podcasts, Semantic Web

Tags: Jeff Pollock, Semantic Web, Internet, Paul Miller

Oracle’s Jeff Pollock has been involved with Semantic Technologies for more than a decade, and puts that experience to good use in his latest book, Semantic Web for Dummies.

I spoke with Jeff yesterday, and the result has just been released as a podcast.

Have a listen to hear Jeff’s intentions for the book and some of his wider views on the ‘failure of Natural Language Processing,’ the Semantic Web label ‘not speaking to a problem… or a solution,’ and the ways in which Semantic Technologies are quietly being put to work in the enterprise.