An article by Stéphane Corlosquet discusses some of the highlights from the recent schema.org workshop. Corlosquet writes, “One of the highlights of the workshop for me was the syntax break out session, where most of the key players of the microformats, RDFa and microdata communities were present. The room was full of people passionate about structured data, and the atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly. We exchanged our opinions and pros/cons about each syntax (more on that in a different post). The outcome was a rough consensus that the community needs to keep supporting multiple syntaxes, since they are currently all still evolving and learning from one another.”

Corlosquet continues, “I noticed on Monday that Google released a new version of the Google Rich Snippets testing tool which supports the schema.org types in RDFa. That’s a big deal for Drupal 7 which ships with native RDFa support. I’ve put together a screencast which shows how it is possible today to enable Rich Snippets on Drupal 7 using the schema.org module.” View the screencast above.

Semantic Tech & Business Conference Returns to San Francisco

Semantic Tech & Business Conference returns to San Francisco in June! Join us from June 3-7 for complete coverage of Big Data, Linked Data, Extreme Information Management, and Semantic Web. From breakthrough approaches to solving business problems to the big data implications of fast–evolving technologies, SemTechBiz provides you with an unparalleled interactive experience and delivers tangible business value. We're offering a special early rate when you register by February 17. Sign up now!

Date: April 30, 2010, 11:00AM (1 hour)
Register: View the Recorded Webcast
Q&A: Q&A Session for “The RDFa initiative in Drupal 7, and how it will impact the Semantic Web”
Attachment: RDFa-in-Drupal-7-Slides.pdf (2.15 MB)

Drupal 7 (alpha), the latest major release of the popular open source CMS, includes a lot of features for web publishers interested in implementing Semantic Web Technologies.

In May of 2009, Google announced the support for RDFa as part of its Rich Snippet program. At the time, the work for integrating Semantic Web technologies into the next release of Drupal’s core had already started. In May, 2010 at DrupalCon San Francisco, Dries Buytaert – creator and project lead of Drupal – reaffirmed the community’s strong support for RDF in Drupal 7 by showing what sort of applications this will enable. A few days later, Facebook announced the Open Graph protocol, a new protocol based on RDFa which allows for turning any webpage into a rich object in a social graph. Clearly, the future is in the Semantic Web. This webinar presents some brief history about semantics in Drupal and the various facets of RDF and RDFa which are available today as part of Drupal 7 alpha.

At the SemTech 2010 Conference in June, Stéphane Corlosquet, Lin Clark, Alex Passant and Axel Polleres will present a hands-on Tutorial on "How to build Linked Data sites with Drupal 7 and RDFa."

Relevant links mentioned during the webinar:

• - Drupal project
• - Download latest Drupal 7
• - Produce and Consume Linked Data with Drupal! paper (PDF)
• - RDF browsers:
  • - Sindice inspector (including a bookmarlet to add to your browser)
  • - URI burner
  • - Tabulator
• - Who uses Drupal:
  • - The White House
  • - New York Observer
  • - more
• - Semantic web and Drupal video presented at DrupalCon San Francisco keynote.
• - Semantic Drupal for all news on Semantic Web in Drupal and how to get started with RDF in Drupal.
• - Follow Stéphane Corlosquet on twitter to keep up to date with the latest developments.

Presenters:

Stephane Corlosquet
MGH / Partners

Stéphane Corlosquet has been the main driving force in incorporating Semantic Web capabilities into the Drupal CMS. His ‘RDF CCK’ and ‘evoc’ contributed modules to Drupal 6 have naturally evolved to be accepted as standard within the core of the upcoming Drupal 7. He co-authored the ISWC 2009 Best Semantic Web In Use Paper titled "Produce and Consume Linked Data with Drupal!". Stéphane recently finished an M.Sc. in Semantic Web at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI), Ireland and joined MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MIND), MGH as a Software Engineer to work on the Science Collaboration Framework, a Drupal-based distribution to build online communities of researchers in biomedicine. For more information, see http://openspring.net/

Did you hear that sound this week? The giant whooshing sound? There was a great disturbance in the Force, as if thousands of Semantic Web academics, implementors and enthusiasts sighed in unison and their critics were silenced. I believe something wonderful has happened.

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White House shift to open-source Web system draws mostly praise GCN.com … who speculate that the move may portend a shift towards more government use of open-source, social media and emerging semantic Web technologies. … and more »

TopQuadrant Publishes Government Ontologies to Create Standard Data Exchange

International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC) 2009 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – October 27, 2009 – TopQuadrant™, the global leader in Semantic Web application development technology, today announced oeGOV, an initiative for creating an open, W3C Semantic Web standards-based set of ontology models to encourage and facilitate the use of linked government data. The overarching goal of oeGOV is to make the vision of Semantically Linked Open Data a reality throughout the government sector, with an initial focus on U.S. government civil branches, agencies, departments, offices and state government.

“The Semantic Web offers a unique opportunity to increase citizen access to information about published government activities and data,” said Ralph Hodgson, CTO of TopQuadrant. “We expect the oeGOV initiative to improve the accountability of policy making by improving government transparency. By publishing ontologies for eGovernment, we will improve the distribution, navigation, integrity, interpretation and interoperability of published government data.”

TopQuadrant is spearheading the project by publishing the first set of ontologies at oeGOV.org, which include OWL representations of about 500 U.S. government civil bodies, models of the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA), developed with GSA and the QUDT ontologies for units of measure, developed with NASA ARC. TopQuadrant invites others, particularly U.S. government agencies, to participate in the oeGOV effort. Interested parties can subscribe to the oeGOV blog at www.oegov.us/blog/.

The oeGOV initiative intends to interpret government data through precise semantics and controlled vocabularies, including geospatial and temporal aspects. Correlations and comparisons of data will be possible through the standardization of neutral models for data exchange, units of measure and transformation, along with an ontology for units of measure.

“There is government information that belongs in the hands of the governed,” said Dean Allemang, Chief Scientist at TopQuadrant. “But until very recently, most of this data had been published in idiosyncratic, disconnected forms. Semantic Web technologies provide an unparalleled capability for making public data genuinely available to the general populace. With new policies for information sharing in place, there is a wide appreciation of the need for sharable, connectable government information.”

oeGOV is a continuation of TopQuadrant’s commitment to eGovernment. In 2003, TopQuadrant co-organized the first Semantic Web technology conference for eGovernment at the White House Conference Center, which focused on the importance of sharing of data using the web infrastructure. Since then TopQuadrant has supported ontology development at a number of government agencies, including NASA and GSA. Several of these ontologies will be available through the oeGOV initiative.

For those interested in hands-on training for creating applications using government information published on linked data sites, TopQuadrant’s Dean Allemang will lead a course at ISWC entitled, ‘Building Semantic Web Applications for Government.’ This half-day tutorial draws on information-sharing projects such as the Federal Enterprise Architecture and resources at open government web sites such as oegov.org to provide attendees with a taste of real Semantic Web government. Attendees will learn the basics of the Semantic Web, as well as proven methods for accessing and combining existing information sources (e.g., spreadsheets, XML feeds and databases).

About TopQuadrant
TopQuadrant is the global leader in Semantic Web application development technology, solution services and training programs. Established in 2001 with the mission to enable enterprises to be agile through practical application of Semantic Web technologies, TopQuadrant offers TopBraid Suite, the only Semantic Web platform with a graphical application assembly toolkit and end-user customizable tools to discover, explore and visualize relevant data without programming. TopQuadrant’s Semantic Web applications enable enterprises to master the challenges of the global marketplace by becoming more agile, reducing costs and creating competitive business processes that easily adapt to change. The company’s customers include Fortune 1000 corporations in retail, pharmaceutical, financial services, medical/healthcare, manufacturing, and energy industries as well as government agencies in the areas of defense, intelligence and airspace. For more information, visit www.topquadrant.com.

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TopQuadrant, TopBraid, TopBraid Suite, TopBraid Ensemble, TopBraid Live, TopBraid Composer, TopBraid Composer Maestro Edition, SPARQLMotion, the TopQuadrant logo, and “Composing the Semantic Web” are trademarks of TopQuadrant Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 

Podcast Link
In September’s episode of the Semantic Web Gang we are joined by Brand Niemann of the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a discussion of efforts to apply semantic technologies to Government data in the USA and elsewhere.

During the conversation, we refer to the following resources;

apps.gov, and Vivek Kundra’s post on the White House [...]

Original Article

I’m following yesterday’s Data.gov launch rather closely, and I assume many of the readers of Semantic Universe are doing the same.  For more details go to…no surprise…http://www.data.gov/ (!!)

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