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Only slightly related bit does anyone have a good current take on how to get going on using RDF for something of value? I recently got interested through a coll

Only slightly related bit does anyone have a good current take on how to get going on using RDF for something of value? I recently got interested through a colleague showing off his pet rdf setup, but the more I read the more I am just confused with the platora of dead/abandoned and renamed projects, different standards and tons of different shorter versions like this one. It really feels like everything on the topic is written both by and for people who have been active in the space continually since 2005, so for someone new it’s difficult to see where to start and what to avoid.

jerf 8y ago
RDF is a zombie format. It isn't entirely "dead" but after some wildly ambitious promises, it hasn't lived up to any of them, and it seems only a few "true believers" are still working with it. This being a world of seven billion people, a few "true believers" can still be a few thousand people, but it's just not a technology I can say is vibrant, alive, or worth spending much time with. The core problem is that it solves the easy problems, and not even terribly well (I more-or-less endorse titanix2's comment elsewhere in the thread), while leaving the hard problems mostly untouched. The excitement it generated 10-15 years ago mostly comes from confusing solving the easy problem for the hard problem. Everything that I've personally ever seen used RDF has ripped it back out again at some point. Whether that's the fate in store for the current users named in the article I can't say, but it certainly wouldn't be a bad guess. If the space intrigues you, I would suggest starting with a graph database instead.
- jshen 8y ago
  RDF solves very real problems, see my other comment in this thread for a list of a few of them. A graph database does not solve those problems in any way. I also find it strange to call it dead when companies like google and facebook are using it for metadata on content to power their core products. Again, a graph database does not solve that.
- lolive 8y ago
  All the questions that the Semantic Web asked itself are reemerging with GraphQL. (exposing the DB schema, querying over the web, returning results based on a structure). The JS script kiddies are just scratching the surface today, but they will eventually have exactly the same questions. (data delivery, data reuse, data semantics, data exposure). They still worship plain JSON. But they will (have to) evolve. The Semantic Web has solved all those questions already, but in the most obscure manner. PS: and yes, a graph database is a good start to open your mind.

jerf 8y ago

RDF is a zombie format. It isn't entirely "dead" but after some wildly ambitious promises, it hasn't lived up to any of them, and it seems only a few "true believers" are still working with it. This being a world of seven billion people, a few "true believers" can still be a few thousand people, but it's just not a technology I can say is vibrant, alive, or worth spending much time with. The core problem is that it solves the easy problems, and not even terribly well (I more-or-less endorse titanix2's comment elsewhere in the thread), while leaving the hard problems mostly untouched. The excitement it generated 10-15 years ago mostly comes from confusing solving the easy problem for the hard problem. Everything that I've personally ever seen used RDF has ripped it back out again at some point. Whether that's the fate in store for the current users named in the article I can't say, but it certainly wouldn't be a bad guess. If the space intrigues you, I would suggest starting with a graph database instead.

jshen 8y ago
RDF solves very real problems, see my other comment in this thread for a list of a few of them. A graph database does not solve those problems in any way. I also find it strange to call it dead when companies like google and facebook are using it for metadata on content to power their core products. Again, a graph database does not solve that.
lolive 8y ago
All the questions that the Semantic Web asked itself are reemerging with GraphQL. (exposing the DB schema, querying over the web, returning results based on a structure). The JS script kiddies are just scratching the surface today, but they will eventually have exactly the same questions. (data delivery, data reuse, data semantics, data exposure). They still worship plain JSON. But they will (have to) evolve. The Semantic Web has solved all those questions already, but in the most obscure manner. PS: and yes, a graph database is a good start to open your mind.