Category: Linked Data

The Power of the Link at Semantic Tech & Business, London, 2011

Posted on by Richard Wallis

This post was initially just going to be about the presentation The Simple Power of the Link that I gave in the opening session of The Semantic Tech & Business Conference in London earlier this week.  However I realise now that it’s title, chosen to draw attention to the core utility and power of the basic links in Linked Data, has resonance and relevance for the conference as a whole. This was the first conference in the long running Semtech series  to venture in to Europe as well as include the word business in it’s name.  This obviously recognises the …

Web, Semantic Web, SEO, SERP and Linked Data

Posted on by Richard Wallis

Like many of my posts, this one comes from the threads of several disparate conversations coming together in my mind, in an almost astrological conjunction. One thread stems from my recent Should SEO Focus in on Linked Data? post, in which I was concluding that the group, loosely described as the SEO community, could usefully focus in on the benefits of Linked Data in their quest to improve the business of the sites and organisations they support. Following the post I received an email looking for clarification of something I said. I am interested in understanding better the allusion you …

Should SEO Focus in on Linked Data?

Posted on by Richard Wallis

It is well known, the business of SEO is all about influencing SERPs, or is it?  Let me open up those acronyms: Those engaged in the business of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) focus much of their efforts on influencing Search Engine Result Pages (SERP), or more specifically the relevance and representation of their targeted items upon those pages.  As many a guide to SEO will tell you, some of this is simple – understanding the basics of how search engines operate, or even just purchasing the right advertising links on the SERP.  Quite simple in objective, but in reality an …

UK Government Commits to More Open Data

Posted on by Richard Wallis

A couple of weeks back UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced the broadening of the publicly available government data with the publishing of key data on the National Health Service, schools, criminal courts and transport. The background to the announcement was a celebration of the preceding year of activity in the areas of transparency and open data, with many core government data sets being published. Too many to list here, but the 7,200+ listed on data.gov.uk gives you an insight.  The political guide to this is undeniable, as Mr Cameron makes clear in his YouTube speech for the announcement “Information …

Significant Bibliographic Linked Data Release From The British Library

Posted on by Richard Wallis

Today the British Library announced a significant contribution to the development, application, and sharing of bibliographic data using Linked Data techniques and technologies, with a preview of a new approach to publishing the British National Bibliography. Chief Executive Dame Lynne Brindley announced the initiative in her Keynote at Linked Data and Libraries 2011, hosted by Talis at the British Library (BL) in London. The Metadata Services Team at BL have been working with Tim Hodson, and other Talis consultants, over the last few months to apply Linked Data modelling practices to bibliographic resources. The British National Bibliography (BNB) of 2.8 …

Are We Getting A Right to Data?

Posted on by Richard Wallis

Friday night – nothing on the TV – I know! I’ll browse through the Protection of Freedoms Bill, currently passing through the UK Parliament. Sad I know, but interesting. Lets scroll back in time a bit to November 19th 2010 and a government press conference introduced by a video from Prime Minister David Cameron.  The headline story was about the publishing of government spending and contract data, but towards the end of this 109 second short he said the following: … the most exciting is a new right to data. Which will let people request streams of government information and …

Linked Spending Data – How and Why Bother Pt3

Posted on by Richard Wallis

As often is the way, events have conspired to prevent me from producing this third and final part in this How & Why of Local Government Spending Data as soon as I wanted.  So my apologies to those eagerly awaiting this latest. To quickly recap, in Part 1 I addressed issues around why pick on spending data as a start point for Linked Data in Local Government, and indeed why go for Linked Data at all.  In Part 2, I used some of the excellent work that Stuart Harrison at Lichfield District Council has done in this area, as examples …

Linked Spending Data – How and Why Bother Pt2

Posted on by Richard Wallis

I started the previous post in this mini-series with an assumption – ..working on the assumption that publishing this [local government spending] data is a good thing. That post attracted several comments, fortunately none challenging the assumption.   So learning from that experience I am going to start with another assumption in this post.  Publishing Local Authority data, such as local spending data, as ‘Linked Data’ is also a good thing.  Those new to this mini-series, check back to the previous post for my reasoning behind the assertion. In this post I am going to be concentrating more on the How …

A New Revolution

Posted on by Richard Wallis

A colleague sharing their experience of visiting Ironbridge, promoted as “The Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution” helped clarify some thoughts I have been brewing to help convey where the current Linked Data enthusiasms and initiatives may lead us. The famous Iron Bridge, opened in 1781, spans the River Severn in Shropshire, England.  To quote the Wikipedia “It was the first arch bridge in the world to be made out of cast iron, a material which was previously far too expensive to use for large structures. However, a new blast furnace nearby lowered the cost and so encouraged local engineers and …