The Linked Data EcosystemThe Linked Data EcosystemTLDE_bb64ecc5-52a8-414d-8bae-4cd9bd08ce14To foster development of a scalable and robust platform for decentralized applications to share data._64979ccf-08a5-42c9-892c-00799c429fffTriplesPresent all your data in as triples, building everything out of Subject-Property-Value statements. _700ad037-f69d-4b2c-9716-4c1f4819511a1This roughly lines up with rock-solid technologies like relational databases and object-oriented programming, and new techniques, including JSON and terascale databases (Google’s BigTable app engine datastore, Amazon’s SimpleDB). The details are ironed out in RDF, a W3C standard first published in 1999, and then rearticulated with clarification in 2004.When you use triples as your building blocks, you have to be more explicit about the structure of your data, and this eases accurate interoperation. The simplicity also supports metadata, reasoning about data, data distribution, and shared infrastructure even among disparate applications.Web AddressesUse Web addresses (URLs/URIs/IRIs) to name things. _7f0e11c4-6abf-43ee-a181-95b5783e3a672Each thing that someone might need to refer to — cities, agencies, people, projects, items in inventory, websites, events, etc — should be assigned a universally unambiguous identifier (nothing else uses the same identifier), so that every source of data about that item can be merged, always knowing it’s the same item. It’s okay (and unavoidable, in some cases) to have multiple identifiers for some items; the important thing is to be able to use the same identifier, when we know it.We use Web addresses to build these identifiers, because we already have a structure for making sure there are no unintended duplicates, and because it allows an important element of of centralization. Each time some organization mints a new web-based identifier, it gets the ability to provide (through its web server) some core data about that item. It’s not that their data will always be correct, but it provides a starting point, a seed around which a shared understanding of the item can grow.Change and DiversityBuild for change and diversity, with backward and forward compatibility, and multiple views on the same data, knowing that the world changes, and our understanding of the world changes._9e28acfe-0670-4df4-af85-b77ec6ea3ce03This needs its own article, but Why I Want RIF? covers the hardest parts of the territory. See http://decentralyze.com/2009/07/09/why-i-want-rif/Public Data StreamsGet more and more public data streams flowing. _555d52a5-b2e3-4fb1-9f4b-f1548d2fb9af4Usability of Data Stream Make the data streams more and more usable. _b45d89a7-dcbb-41a0-ad0e-be68660543035Community SupportSupport the Community Around a Data Source_ad0a77d9-bb8b-4a62-b913-ffb2bccc27456People need to see what others are doing, and people doing good things need to be rewarded. People need to have some confidence they’ll be rewarded for doing good things. And mostly: the community needs to be arranged so that the more people participate, the better it gets. (See the video of Clay Shirky’s talk at the Summit about how to do this, in general.) http://www.blip.tv/file/855937/ Definitions of ElementsClarify what elements of the data feed mean_30c489aa-ddb1-49ca-aea7-e32b22520c156.1DocumentationDocument the accuracy, methodology, etc, of the feed _099f4d67-1325-4064-9306-4d59516774f36.2BugsFind and correct bugs in the data_18410811-f3f3-479d-84f7-a4702e32d88f6.3Software Develop software which somehow uses the data, and (1) sharing lessons learned in developing the software, (2) making the software available in various forms (web service, commercial download, open source, etc) _3b058020-8cfe-49a3-9304-5d6c843c5b456.4LinksLink to related feeds_d9bac687-c3bb-4a48-a014-35c7c123b1ab6.5Derived FeedsProvide derived feeds, reformat, correct, or otherwise improve or re-target data _1a2fafac-d22c-410d-9ff3-2618e2a0352c6.6Merged FeedsProvide merged feeds, which process data along with other data, to create something new _8b748b2b-6b7e-4aa0-9d03-ddf44a9151dd6.7Summary and AnalysisSummary/Analysis feeds _655192e9-0e32-49da-84f1-4181207187cf6.8Review and CommentaryReview, commentary, support for all these related items _1ca6c9e8-1cee-4fd4-a67d-50268367e1b66.9FundingCreate career and project-funding opportunities_780a4dae-de45-4d8b-a8af-47fdbc2878706.10Social EventsConduct social events related to this feed _a84b6fa8-99e1-41ec-a7ac-67ca1ed1a4746.112010-02-08http://decentralyze.com/2009/09/11/linked-government-data/ArthurColman (www.drybridge.com)colman@drybridge.com