Paul Miller - The Cloud of Data » RDFa

Episode 2 of The Semantic Link podcast discusses Drupal and more

Paul Miller — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 21:41:58 +0000

Episode 2 of our new Semantic Link podcast went up on SemanticWeb.com this evening, and it’s another good one. Not that I’m biased or anything.

The whole team is present once more, and we start the show discussing the implications of Drupal 7 and its newly formalised RDFa-publishing capabilities. Unlike regular semantic technology solutions, which someone has to consciously procure as a Semantic Technology solution, Drupal is first and foremost a (popular, free) Content Management System; the semantic smarts come for free, and therefore reach a massive new audience.

From there, we move into a broader discussion of the ways in which semantic projects take root within organisations.

Have a listen, and let us know what you think. As ever, suggestions for future topics or guests are always welcome.

@theSemanticLink is the show’s Twitter id, which we will use to invite questions ahead of shows on particular topics. If you’d like to ask questions, comment on shows, hear about new episodes as they’re released, etc, please do sign up to follow.

The Semantic Link is open (cloudofdata.com)
Drupal 7 Released, With Improved UI and Semantic Technology (nytimes.com)
House.gov moves to Drupal (radar.oreilly.com)
Dries Buytaert Explains How Drupal Gardens SaaS Can Contribute to Semantic Web Momentum – semanticweb.com (semanticweb.com)
Drupal 7 dives into machine-readable web (go.theregister.com)

A podcast conversation about GoodRelations, with Martin Hepp and Jamie Taylor

Paul Miller — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:52:50 +0000

I recorded my latest Semantic Web-ish podcast last week, talking with Martin Hepp in Germany and Jamie Taylor in California. Our topic was GoodRelations, an ontology/vocabulary designed to enhance the clarity of descriptions of businesses and their products on the Web. As the GoodRelations site describes,

“GoodRelations is a language that can be used to describe very precisely whatyour business is offering. Some people call GoodRelations a ‘data dictionary’, others prefer ‘schema’ or ‘ontology’. But the name of the thing is not important. Important is that you can use GoodRelations to create a small data package that describes your productsand their features and prices, yourstores and opening hours, payment options and the like.

You simply paste this data package into your Web page using W3C’s RDFa format.”

Martin and Jamie talk about the vocabulary itself, before moving on to the some of the ways in which it transforms commerce on the Web for early adopters such as Best Buy and O’Reilly.

The conversation – and its implications – are also covered in this post on ZDNet today. Links to some of the sites and resources mentioned during our chat are included here, after the fold.

Example Best Buy Product RDFa Markup Released (beta) (jay.beweep.com)
Best Buy jump starts data web marketing (chiefmartec.com)
Talking with Martin Hepp about solving the paradox of choice (jonudell.net)
Thoughts on RDFa (jay.beweep.com)

Talking with Mark Birbeck about RDFa and its use in Government

Paul Miller — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:22:46 +0000

The ease with which RDFa can be embedded into existing HTML web pages makes it compelling as a means of easing traditional organisations and their workflows toward the Semantic Web. If we’re to realise Gordon Brown’s ambitions for making Government information more visible, tweaks to content management systems to inject a little RDFa onto their web sites may be an easier first step than a wholesale (albeit perhaps ultimately desirable) modification of back-end data storage.

In my latest podcast I talk with Mark Birbeck about his involvement in RDFa’s genesis, and his recent work with the UK’s Central Office of Information to aggregate vacancies information from across Government sites with a little RDFa.

Production of this podcast was supported by Talis, and show notes are available on their Nodalities blog.

May’s Semantic Web Gang talks Wolfram Alpha and Google

Paul Miller — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:45:52 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

I mentioned the Semantic Web Gang podcast last week, in the context of our upcoming Live appearance at the Semantic Technology Conference in San Jose next month.

This month’s show was recorded yesterday, and is now available. During the conversation, Gang members dig into the two hot stories of the moment; the launch of Wolfram Alpha and Google’s apparent embracing of semantics with their ‘Rich Snippets.’

Have a listen, and see what you think.

The Semantic Web Gang podcasts are sponsored by Talis. Show notes are available.

The Semantic Web Gang – LIVE in San Jose (cloudofdata.com)