Linked data and Semantic Web

Tim Berners-Lee has called for a linking together of all data. He had a compelling presentation at TED in 2009 (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/tim_berners_lee_on_the_next_web.html).If you don't have the patience to view the video, click on "Interactive Transcript" to skim the text. Just remember your sentiment when we discuss EEA's videos. The fun starts five minutes in. This idea should be very interesting for EEA as we’re also struggling with getting as much information out of our data as possible. What he’s promoting is the ability for machines to automatically combine data and this is a step up from SEIS, where the humans still have to convert the data formats to the format they need. Linked data has an academic cousin called the Semantic Web. Even though the Semantic Web idea was launched in 2001 it still remains largely unrealised. EEA is using the ideas in small areas. E.g. it is used to suggest related terms in the EEA search engine, and Reportnet uses it as well.

Linked data is also finding its way onto the personal computer. The ideas behind the Semantic Desktop is to link emails, instant messages, tasks, meetings and documents with contact information making it possible to follow a conversation across all media. The NEPOMUK project, funded by the European Union, is one example. Another is Xobni, which is a commercial product for your MS-Outlook inbox that does much of the same.

--
Sincerely yours / Med venlig hilsen, Søren Roug <soren.roug@eea.europa.eu>
European Environment Agency, Kongens Nytorv 6, DK-1050 Copenhagen K
Tel: +45 3336 7212 Fax: +45 3336 7199 Jabber: roug@jabber.eea.europa.eu