One sector that has been very active in the adoption of Linked Data is that of libraries. In an effort to highlight this activity, SemanticWeb.com, supported by OCLC and LITA, put out a call last month for work that promoted or demonstrated the benefits of linked data for libraries.

After receiving a number of excellent nominations, we are pleased to announce that Kevin Ford, from the Network Development and MARC Standards Office at the Library of Congress, was selected to showcase his work with the Bibliographic Framework Initiative (BIBFRAME) and his continuing work on the Library of Congress’s Linked Data Service (loc.id). In addition to being an active contributor, Kevin is responsible for the BIBFRAME website; has devised tools to view MARC records and the resulting BIBFRAME resources side-by-side; authored the first transformation code for MARC data to BIBFRAME resources; and is project manager for The Library of Congress’ Linked Data Service. Kevin also writes and presents frequently to promote BIBFRAME, ID.LOC.GOV, and educate fellow librarians on the possibilities of linked data.

Congratulations to Kevin!

If you want to learn more about BIBFRAME and the role Linked Data is playing in the world of libraries, join us at Semantic Technology & Business Conference, June 2-5 where Kevin’s colleague from the Library of Congress, Nate Trail, will deliver a lightning talk on BIBFRAME, and Richard Wallis of the OCLC will present From Record to Graph – Exposing a Legacy.

Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (#GAAD), and there are programs taking place all around the world from Bangalore, India to Washington, DC. The purpose of the day is to get people talking, thinking and learning about digital accessibility and users with different disabilities.

GAAD is the brainchild of Joe Devon, a Los Angeles based technologist and entrepreneur. Devon says, “The target audience of GAAD is the design, development, usability, and related communities who build, shape, fund and influence technology and its use. While people may be interested in the topic of making technology accessible and usable by persons with disabilities, the reality is that they often do not know how or where to start. Awareness comes first.”

Last year, I wrote a piece about the inaugural Global Accessibility Awareness Day (#GAAD), and the strong connections between Semantic Web and Assistive Technology. Or rather, I posited that there were connections that were inherent, but not being maximized, or even explored.

One year later, I’m very pleased to report that things are progressing! There are now formal efforts to connect Semantic and Assistive Technologies.

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The inaugural hackathon at the Semantic Technology & Business Conference, Semantic Hack, will now be held at Citizen Space, a membership-based, coworking space located in San Francisco, very near the conference hotel.

With plenty of flexible space, a relaxed environment, lots of experience hosting hackathons, and an impressive list of other amenities, Citizen Space promises to be a perfect location for developers and designers to gather for a fun day of coding!

Semantic Hack is a day-long coding event that asks “What could you build if the entire web was your database?” — and then challenges participants to do it!

Semantic Hack brings together developers and designers to work with advanced web-page extraction technologies, RDF, OWL, SPARQL, linked data, sentiment analysis, newly available datasets, and other semantic technologies that help make the web more readable, accessible and dynamic for humans and more interpretable by machines. PLUS, you don’t have to know anything about semantics to attend. If you do, great!  But if not, this will be a great way to get started exploring.

Teams will compete to create the most intriguing and innovative apps atop these technologies, driving to win prizes and — who knows? — even help to usher in the next phase of the web.

There is no cost to sign up, and sponsorship opportunities are available. For more details, visit the Semantic Hack site.

The W3C has announced that eleven specifications of SPARQL 1.1 have been published as recommendations. SPARQL is the Semantic Web query language.  We caught up with Lee Feigenbaum, VP Marketing & Technology at Cambridge Semantics Inc. to discuss the significance of this announcement. Feigenbaum is a SPARQL expert who currently serves as the Co-Chair of the W3C’s SPARQL Working Group, leading the design of SPARQL.

Feigenbaum says, “SPARQL 1.1 is a huge leap forward in providing a standard way to access and update Semantic Web data. By reaching W3C Recommendation status, Semantic Web developers, vendors, publishers and consumers have a stable, well-vetted, and interoperable set of standards they can rely on for the foreseeable future.”

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Free Download at
http://bit.ly/WqS34V

“If you don’t understand what your software engineers are talking about, perhaps it’s because they are using a vocabulary they invented for the problem they are solving.” This begins a white paper called, “The Business Value of Semantic Technology” by Chris Moran, CTO, Information Management Solutions Consultants, Inc.

Moran continues, “Engineers invent a vocabulary and data structure for each system they build and each problem they solve, and only the engineers who built the system understand this structure and vocabulary. Even other engineers must learn it in order to make the data usable. In most enterprises today, we have as many different ways to ask questions of our data as we have systems to store it. We have as many different vocabularies and data structures as we have systems. The problem is actually worse than it sounds….”

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On Friday, February 8, a group of Semantic thought leaders from around the globe met with their host and colleague, Eric Franzon, for the latest installment of the Semantic Link, a monthly podcast covering the world of Semantic Technologies. This episode includes a discussion about libraries, an area that has seen a great deal of activity in the Linked Data space recently.

“The Linkers” were joined by a very special guest to discuss what’s been happening in the library world: Karen Coyle.
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[Editor's Note: SemanticWeb.com has secured a discount with OMG for the event outlined in the release below. SemanticWeb.com readers can receive a 15% discount when registering for the Semantic Information Day by entering the discount code: SEVA1 .]

The Object Management Group (OMG®) will be holding a Workshop and Information Day on Semantics at its quarterly technical meeting in Reston, VA. The event will take place on Tuesday, March 19^th and Wednesday, March 20^th at the Hyatt Regency hotel.

The event will give attendees the option to focus on the uses of semantics in three key industries: healthcare, finance and government.

“Semantic technologies are remaking financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and even defense systems,” said Dr. Richard Soley, Chairman and CEO of OMG. “The purpose of the Semantic Information Day is to explore how semantics can be used in these industries while laying the groundwork for future semantic-based standards.”

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Time is running out, but due to an overwhelming number of requests for “more time,” the organizers of the 2013 Semantic Technology & Business Conference – San Francisco, have decided to extend the Call For Presentations deadline for submissions until the end of Monday, January 21.

Important Links:

• Submission guidelines and complete instructions
• Submission form
• Information on sponsorship opportunities

You can also take advantage of our super early bird rates by registering before February 7.

Today, we are pleased to announce that the SemanticWeb.com newsletter is shifting from weekly to daily delivery (at 4:00pm ET), matching the frequency of newsletters from other MediaBistro properties. If you have previously signed up for the weekly newsletter, you do not need to do anything; beginning today, you will receive the newsletter daily.

If you are not currently a subscriber, but would like to be, please sign up using the mechanism on the right side of this page.

Of course, you may always unsubscribe or modify your subscription, our privacy policy is available here, and our RSS feed is available here.

As always, please share your thoughts in the comments, and if you have a story lead for us, let us know! There is an “anonymous tip” form field right below the newsletter subscription button. We are always on the lookout for interesting and original content about Semantic Technologies.

Thanks for reading!

Eric

Eric Franzon
VP Community
SemanticWeb.com

There’s still time to make a speaking proposal for the Semantic Technology & Business Conference, June 2-5 in San Francisco.

Once again, we plan to make it the biggest and most comprehensive educational conference on the business of semantic technologies. Contribute to this event by sharing the practical experience you have gained in your own semantic projects. Speaking offers numerous benefits including an unparalleled platform to gain exposure for your institution; increased credibility for your business, project or team; and the opportunity to convey your goals and vision with an audience of attendees from around the world.

We are looking for case studies big and small – whether you’re building a semantic start-up, a large enterprise implementation, or you’ve done semantic annotation on a local business web site. They are all relevant, because the curiosity of the audience is so rich and diverse. We are looking for 3-hour tutorials, 45-minute breakout sessions and panels, and 5 minute lightning talks.

The Call for Presentations ends this Friday, January 18, so get your abstract together now. All the information you need and the links to submit your presentation proposal, are HERE.

Proposals will be reviewed by our outstanding Program Advisory Committee.

Conference registration is also open. Register by February 7 and save with substantial early bird discounts.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at Eric[ at ]SemanticWeb.com

Thanks,

Eric Franzon & Stewart Quealy
Conference Co-Chairs