Open Data: Digital Fuel or Raw Material?

I have been reading with interest ‘Digital Fuel of the 21st Century: Innovation through Open Data and the Network Effect’ by Vivek Kundra. Well worth a read to place the current [Digital] Revolution we are somewhere in the middle of, in relation to preceding revolutions and the ages that they begat.

OK So Who Noticed the SOPA Blackout

All in all, I believe the campaign has been surprisingly effective on the visible web. However, what prompted this post was trying to ascertain how effective it was on the Data Web, which almost by definition is the invisible web. Ahead of the dark day, a move started on the Semantic Web and Linked Open Data mailing lists to replicate what Wikipedia was doing by going dark on Dbpedia

What Is Your Data’s Star Rating(s)?

The Linked Data movement was kicked off in mid 2006 when Tim Berners-Lee published his now famous Linked Data Design Issues document. Many had been promoting the approach of using W3C Semantic Web standards to achieve the effect and benefits, but it was his document and the use of the term Linked Data that crystallised it, gave it focus, and a label.

In 2010 Tim updated his document to include the Linked Open Data 5 Star Scheme

A New Beginning

It is great to launch a new venture, and I am looking forward to launching this one – Data Liberate. Having said that, there is much continuity in this step. Those that know me from the conference circuit, my work with the Talis Group and more recently with Talis Consulting, will recognise much in the core of what Data Liberate has to offer.

W3C Library Linked Data Final Report Published

The W3C Library Linked Data Incubator Group has published it’s Final Report after a year of deliberation. The mission of the Library Linked Data Incubator Group was to help increase the global interoperability of library data on the Web by focusing on the potential role of Linked Data technologies. This report contains several messages that are not just interesting and relevant for the Linked Data enthusiast in the library community. It contains some home truths for those in libraries who think that a slight tweak to the status quo, such as adopting RDA, will be sufficient to keep libraries [data]

Schema.org Déjà vu

The Web has been around for getting on for a couple of decades now, and massive industries have grown up around the magic of making it work for you and your organisation.  Some of it, it has to be said, can be considered snake-oil.  Much of it is the output of some of the best brains on the planet.  Where, on the hit parade of technological revolutions to influence mankind, the Web is placed is oft disputed, but it is definitely up there with fire, steam, electricity, computing, and of course the wheel.  Similar debates, are and will virtually rage,

Will Europe’s National Libraries Open Data In An Open Way?

A significant step towards open bibliographic data was made in Copenhagen this week at the 25th anniversary meeting of the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL) hosted by the Royal Library of Denmark. From the CENL announcement: …the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL), has voted overwhelmingly to support the open licensing of their data. What does that mean in practice? It means that the datasets describing all the millions of books and texts ever published in Europe – the title, author, date, imprint, place of publication and so on, which exists in the vast library catalogues of Europe –