"The RDF Data Access Working Group has published three SPARQL Proposed Recommendations: SPARQL Query Language for RDF, SPARQL Query Results XML Format, and SPARQL Protocol for RDF..."

"W3C announced today the publication of SPARQL, the key standard for opening up data on the Semantic Web. With SPARQL query technology, pronounced "sparkle," people can focus on what they want to know rather than on the database technology or data format used behind the scenes to store the data. Because SPARQL queries express high-level goals, it is easier to extend them to unanticipated data sources, or even to port them to new applications. «Trying to use the Semantic Web without SPARQL is like trying to use a relational database without SQL» explained Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. «SPARQL makes it possible to query information from databases and other diverse sources in the wild, across the Web» ..." via http://www.w3.org/News/2008#item6

"...I doubt that a query language as general and flexible as SPARQL will be the best basis for it... what’s needed is a query language where the result is another graph."

"...In all this Semantic Web news, though, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The benefit of the Semantic Web is that data may be re-used in ways unexpected by the original publisher. That is the value added.

"RDF and OWL provide a standard way to describe the meaning of any data structure, such that any application that speaks these languages can correctly interpret the meaning without having to have been explicitly programmed to do so in advance [...] If you really look at RDF, OWL, and in particular GRDDL and SPARQL, it becomes crystal clear that this is a set of technologies about freeing data from

I was pleased to see the formal announcement yesterday of the OpenSAF Foundation, a new open source project that I've been helping form for the past several months. You can find the the launch press release here, and I've also pasted it in at the end of this blog entry for archival purposes. The Web site for OpenSAF is here.

"Berners-Lee is a strong advocate for Net Neutrality and here he speaks very eloquently about the net freedoms we currently enjoy and must work to preserve and never take for granted..."

Wow! After looking at all the comments on Thursday’s post titled “Linux’s Market Share: Is There Any Way To Know,” I decided that, although I already had something prepared for today (which is highly unusual - I usually write posts the night I post them), it was worth putting that off in order to comment on some of the comments.

What I’ve noticed time and again in the Wesnoth forums is that there are many people there that are truly interested in helping you create better art. This is because by helping people become better artists, everyone wins. The artist becomes better at what she does while the community benefits from having new and better artwork created for the game.