Open Data in HTML: GRDDL, eRDF and RDFa

In these Web 2.0 days, there is a lot of expectation for data publishers to offer their data through APIs, but there is no clear way to encode and query this data in a universal way. We see HTML as a common denominator for publishers to encode their data — including metadata — using microformats, eRDF, RDFa, and/or GRDDL. HTML is being re-charged by recent efforts to add machine-readable structured data to Web pages. By combining this data with SPARQL, an RDF query language, we will present a compelling set of examples fulfilling the promises of Web 2.0.

We will present from the perspectives of publishers and consumers of data what it takes to embed data in HTML, extract it and query it in a standard away. The presentation will highlight the major features and updates in the past year of these technologies. Additionally, we would like to give an update on the most recent implementations and online services supporting these technologies and suggest ways that they could be leveraged today. For example, the current work at OASIS in using RDF as a metadata encoding for content in Open Document formats.

If time permits, we will present Queso, a Semantic Web / Web 2.0 server combining the metadata concepts in this presentation with the Atom Publishing Protocol and syntax format. There will be examples of prototype applications being developed at IBM to show the power of metadata in HTML and XML (e.g. Open Office).