Resource Description Framework (RDF)

07/07/2017
Resource Description Framework

RDF
An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

1
Resource Description Framework (RDF)

A framework for describing resources on the web
What is a resource?
The answer is still the subject of debate.
For our purposes we can think of it as anything we can
identify: you are a resource, as is your home page, this
presentation, a book, song, student, etc..
Designed to be read and understood by computers
Not designed for being displayed to people
Written in XML
Part of the W3C's Semantic Web Activity
A W3C Recommendation: http://www.w3.org/RDF

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RDF Components
Formal data model

Syntax for interchange of data
Schema Type system (schema model)
Syntax for machine-understandable schemas
Query and profile protocols
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RDF - Examples of Use

We can describe things such as:
Properties for shopping items, such as price and
availability
Time schedules for web events
Information about web pages (content, author,
created and modified date)
Content and rating for web pictures
Content for search engines
Describing electronic libraries

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RDF and "The Semantic Web"

The RDF language is a part of the W3C's
Semantic Web Activity. W3C's "Semantic Web
Vision" is a future where:
Web information has exact meaning
Web information can be understood and
processed by computers
Computers can integrate information from the
web

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RDF: Basic Concepts

The fundamental concepts of RDF are resources,
properties, and statements.
Resources:
An object, a “thing” we want to talk about.
Authors, books, publishers, places, people, hotels, rooms,
search queries, and so on.
Every resource has a URI, a Uniform Resource Identifier. A
URI can be a URL (Uniform Resource Locator, or Web address)
or some other kind of unique identifier; note that an
identifier does not necessarily enable access to a resource
URI schemes have been defined not only for Web locations
but also for such diverse objects as telephone numbers, ISBN
numbers, and geographic locations.

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RDF: Basic Concepts (Cont..)

Properties:
Special kind of resources
Describe relations between resources, for example
“written by”, “age”, “title”, and so on.
Are also identified by URIs (and in practice by URLs). The
use of such a scheme greatly reduces the homonym
problem.

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RDF: Basic Concepts (Cont..)

Statements:
Assert the properties of resources.
Are a object-attribute-value triple, consisting of a
resource, a property, and a value.
Values can either be resources or literals. Literals are
atomic values (strings).

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Three Views of a Statement

An example of a statement is
David Billington is the owner of the Web page
http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/∼db.
The simplest way of interpreting this statement is to use

the definition and consider the triple:
(http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~db,
http://www.mydomain.org/site-owner, #DavidBillington).
We can think of this triple (x, P, y) as a logical formula P(x, y),

where the binary predicate P relates the object x to the object y

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Three Views of a Statement (Cont..)

David Billington is the owner of the Web page
A second view is graph-based.
It is a directed graph with labeled nodes and arcs.

the arcs are directed from the resource (the subject of
the statement) to the value (the object of the
statement).
This kind of graph is known in the Artificial Intelligence
community as a semantic net.

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As we have said, the value of a statement may be a resource.
Therefore, it may be linked to other resources. Consider the
following triples:
(http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~db,
http://www.mydomain.org/site-owner, #DavidBillington)
(#DavidBillington, http://www.mydomain.org/phone, "3875507")
(#DavidBillington, http://www.mydomain.org/uses,
http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~arock/defeasible/Defeasible.cgi)
(http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~arock/defeasible/Defeasible.cgi,
http://www.mydomain.org/site-owner, ‘‘Andrew Rock’’)

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A third representation of a Statement is possible based on
XML.
In this context, an RDF document is represented by an XML
element with the tag rdf:RDF
The content of this element is a number of descriptions,
which use rdf:Description tags.
Every description makes a statement about a resource,
which is identified in one of three different ways:
An rdf:about attribute, referencing an existing
resource.
An rdf:ID attribute, creating a new resource.
Without a name, creating an anonymous resource.

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Representing a statement about the resource
http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/∼db in XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:mydomain="http://www.mydomain.org/my-rdf-ns">
<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~db">
<mydomain:site-owner rdf:resource="#DavidBillington"/>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

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RDF Resource, Property, and Property Value

Recalling that RDF identifies things using Web
identifiers (URIs), and describes resources with
properties and property values.
What are Resource, Property, and Property value?
A Resource is anything that can have a URI, such as
"http://www.w3schools.com/rdf"
A Property is a Resource that has a name, such as
"author" or "homepage"
A Property value is the value of a Property, such as "Juan
Pérez" or "http://www.w3schools.com" (note that a
property value can be another resource)

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RDF Statements
The combination of a Resource, a Property, and a
Property value forms a Statement (known as
the subject, predicate and object of a Statement).
These Statements are also known as Triples
(<http://…isbn…6682>, <http://…/original>, <http://…isbn…409X>)

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RDF triples (cont.)

An RDF Triple (s,p,o) is such that:
“s”, “p” are URI-s, ie, resources on the Web; “o” is a URI
or a literal
Here is a complete triple:
Example, Statement:
"The author of http://www.w3schools.com/rdf is Jan Egil Refsnes".
The subject of the statement is: http://www.w3schools.com/rdf
The predicate (or property) is: author
The object is: Jan Egil Refsnes
Statement:
"The homepage of http://www.w3schools.com/rdf is http://www.w3schools.com".
The subject of the statement above is: http://www.w3schools.com/rdf
The predicate is: homepage
The object is: http://www.w3schools.com
RDF is a general model for such triples
with machine readable formats like RDF/XML, Turtle, N3, RDFa,
… An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies
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RDF Data Model

Directed labeled graphs
Model elements
Resource
Property
Property value
Statement

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RDF Model Primitives
Resource Value
Property
Statement

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RDF Model Example
John Smith
page.html
John’s Home Page

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Basic Example
John Smith
page.html
John’s Home Page
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Basic RDF Example
<?xml version=“1.0”?>
<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf=“http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-rdf-syntax#”
xmlns:dc=“http://purl.org/metadata/dublin_core#”>
<rdf:Description about=“page.html”>
<dc:Creator>John Smith</dc:Creator>
<dc:Title>John’s Home Page</dc:Title>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
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Structured Value
page.html
Creator
Title Name Email
John’s Home Page John Smith js@corp.com

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Structured Value Example
page.html
dc:Creator
dc:Title Name Email
John’s Home Page John Smith js@corp.com

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Structured Value Example - 1

Preamble:
<RDF
xmlns=“http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-rdf-syntax#”
xmlns:dc=“http://purl.org/metadata/dublin_core#
”
xmlns:corp=“http://mycorp.com/corpSchema/”>
...
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Structured Value Example - 2

Statement about page.html
URI Resource 1 (R1)
... Description Resource 2

(value of resource 1)
<Description about=“page.html”>
<dc:Creator>
<Description>
<corp:Name>John Smith</corp:Name>
Properties (R1) <corp:Email>js@corp.com</corp:Email>
</Description>
</dc:Creator>
</Description>
</RDF>
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Abbreviations: 1
<rdf:RDF>
<dc:Creator>
<rdf:Description
corp:Name=“John Smith”
corp:Email=“js@corp.com”
/>
</dc:Creator>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
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Abbreviations: 2
<rdf:RDF>
<dc:Creator
corp:Name=“John Smith”
corp:Email=“js@corp.com” />
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
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RDF:ABOUT/RDF:RESOURCE/RDF:ID
How do we introduce subject and object URIs in RDF/XML?
rdf:about sets the subject URI of a statement, which may be absolute

(http://example.com/) or resolved relative to the BASE of the document
(e.g. /foo/bar, #frag). (Like href in html):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
xml:base="http://spam.com/foo/"
>
rdf:resource sets the object URI of a statement, once again either absolute or
relative.
rdf:ID sets the subject URI, but it can only be within this document. An ID can also
only be used once. Very like <a name=“anchor"> or id=“anchor" in html.
rdf:ID is discouraged since you can replace it with an rdf:about or rdf:resource with a
fragment #anchor and it can cause xml issues if you use the same id more than once.
That is, it's redundant and a potential source of errors.

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Reification
In RDF it is possible to make statements about
statements.
Example: Grigoris believes that David Billington is the
creator of the Web page
This kind of statement can be used to describe belief or
trust in other statements, which is important in some
kinds of applications.
The solution is to assign a unique identifier to each
statement, which can be used to refer to the
statement.
RDF allows this using a reification mechanism

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Reification (Cont..)
Example: Let´s take the next Description
<rdf:Description rdf:about="949352">
<uni:name>Grigoris Antoniou</uni:name>
</rdf:Description>
We can give an ID (reify) to the previous statement :

<rdf:Statement rdf:about="StatementAbout949352">
<rdf:subject rdf:resource="949352"/>
<rdf:predicate rdf:resource="&uni;name"/>
<rdf:object>Grigoris Antoniou</rdf:object>
</rdf:Statement>

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Meta-description
page.html $0.15
Cost
ValidUntil
18-Apr-2013

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Property Reification
page.html $0.15
Cost
Subject
Object
type ValidUntil
Predicate
Statement 18-Apr-2013
Cost

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Meta-description Example - 1
<RDF
xmlns:rdf
=“http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-rdf-syntax#”
xmlns:corp
=“http://mycorp.com/schema/”>
...
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...
<rdf:Description about=“page.html”
bagID=“D_001”>
<corp:Cost>$0.15</corp:Cost>
</rdf:Description>
<rdf:Description aboutEach=“#D_001”>
<corp:ValidUntil>18-Apr-2013</corp:ValidUntil>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
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<rdf:RDF>
<rdf:Description about=“page.html”
bagID=“D_001”
corp:Cost=“$0.15”/>
<rdf:Description aboutEach=“#D_001”
corp:ValidUntil=“18-Apr-1999”/>
</rdf:RDF>
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Data Types
Programs need to know how to interpret a resource
Example, how to know that a literal represents an age:
(#DavidBillington, http://www.mydomain.org/age,
"27"^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer )
To define 2 categories (course and lecturer):
<rdf:Description rdf:about="CIT1111">
<rdf:type rdf:resource="&uni;course"/>
<uni:courseName>Discrete Mathematics</uni:courseName>
<uni:isTaughtBy rdf:resource="949318"/>
</rdf:Description>
<rdf:Description rdf:about="949318">
<rdf:type rdf:resource="&uni;lecturer"/>
<uni:name>David Billington</uni:name>
<uni:title>Associate Professor</uni:title>
</rdf:Description>

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A simple RDF example (in RDF/XML)

http://…isbn/2020386682
Le palais des miroirs http://…isbn/000651409X
<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://…/isbn/2020386682">
<f:titre xml:lang="fr">Le palais des mirroirs</f:titre>
<f:original rdf:resource="http://…/isbn/000651409X"/>
</rdf:Description>
(Note: namespaces are used to simplify the URI-s)

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A simple RDF example (in Turtle)

http://…isbn/2020386682
<http://…/isbn/2020386682>
f:titre "Le palais des mirroirs"@fr ;
f:original <http://…/isbn/000651409X> .

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A simple RDF example (in RDFa)

http://…isbn/2020386682
The book entitled

“Le palais des mirroirs”
is the French translation of the
“Glass
Palace” .

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“Internal” nodes
Consider the following statement:
“the publisher is a «thing» that has a name and an
address (city)”
Until now, nodes were identified with a URI. But…
…what is the URI of «thing»?
London
a:publisher
http://…isbn/000651409X
Harper Collins

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One solution: create an extra URI

The resource will be “visible” on the Web
care should be taken to define unique URI-s
<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://…/isbn/000651409X">
<a:publisher rdf:resource="urn:uuid:f60ffb40-307d-…"/>
</rdf:Description>
<rdf:Description rdf:about="urn:uuid:f60ffb40-307d-…">
<a:p_name>HarpersCollins</a:p_name>
<a:city>HarpersCollins</a:city>
</rdf:Description>

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Internal identifier (“blank nodes”)

<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://…/isbn/000651409X">
<a:publisher rdf:nodeID="A234"/>
</rdf:Description>
<rdf:Description rdf:nodeID="A234">
<a:p_name>HarpersCollins</a:p_name>
<a:city>HarpersCollins</a:city>
</rdf:Description>
<http://…/isbn/2020386682> a:publisher _:A234.

_:A234 a:p_name "HarpersCollins".
Internal = these resources are not visible outside
London
a:publisher
http://…isbn/000651409X
Harper Collins

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RDF in programming practice

For example, using Java+Jena (HP’s Bristol Lab):
a “Model” object is created
the RDF file is parsed and results stored in the Model
the Model offers methods to retrieve:
triples
(property,object) pairs for a specific subject
(subject,property) pairs for specific object
etc.
the rest is conventional programming…
Similar tools exist in Python, PHP, etc.

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Apache Jena ( http://jena.apache.org/ )

RDF
RDF API
Interact with the core API to create and read Resource Description Framework (RDF) graphs. Serialise your triples using
popular formats such as RDF/XML or Turtle.
ARQ (SPARQL)
Query your RDF data using ARQ, a SPARQL 1.1compliant engine. ARQ supports remote federated queries and free text
search.
Triple store
TDB
Persist your data using TDB, a native high performance triple store. TDB supports the full range of Jena APIs.
Fuseki
Expose your triples as a SPARQL end-point accessible over HTTP. Fuseki provides REST-style interaction with your RDF
data.
OWL
Ontology API
Work with models, RDFS and the Web Ontology Language (OWL) to add extra semantics to your RDF data.
Inference API
Reason over your data to expand and check the content of your triple store. Configure your own inference rules or use
the built-in OWL and RDFS reasoners.

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Jena example
// create a model
Model model=new ModelMem();
Resource subject=model.createResource("URI_of_Subject")
// 'in' refers to the input file
model.read(new InputStreamReader(in));
StmtIterator iter=model.listStatements(subject,null,null);
while(iter.hasNext()) {
st = iter.next();
p = st.getProperty();
o = st.getObject();
do_something(p,o);
}

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Another relatively simple application

Goal: reuse of older
experimental data
Keep data in databases
or XML, just export key
“fact” as RDF
Use a faceted browser*
to visualize and interact
with the result
*Exhibit: http://www.simile-widgets.org/exhibit/
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One level higher up

(RDFS, Datatypes)

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Need for RDF schemas

First step towards the “extra knowledge”:
define the terms we can use
what restrictions apply
what extra relationships are there?
Officially: “RDF Vocabulary Description Language”
the term “Schema” is retained for historical reasons…

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RDF Schema (RDFS) - The RDF Vocabulary

Description Language
RDF Schema ‘semantically extends’ RDF to

enable us to talk about classes of resources, and
the properties that will be used with them.
It does this by giving special meaning to certain
rdf properties and resources.
RDF Schema provides the means to describe
application specific RDF vocabularies.

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Describing Classes with RDFS

To describe classes we can use built in RDF
Schema resources:
rdfs:Class
rdfs:subClassOf
These are used in conjunction with the
rdf:type property.

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Describing Properties with RDF(S)

RDF Schema allows us to describe
properties. (Properties are instances of the
class rdf:Property!)
We can specify a domain using
rdfs:domain.
We can specify a range using rdfs:range.

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Other RDFS Built-In Properties

rdfs:subPropertyOf
rdfs:comment
rdfs:label
rdfs:seeAlso
rdfs:isDefinedBy

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Classes, resources, …
Think of well known traditional vocabularies:
use the term “novel”
“every novel is a fiction”
“«The Glass Palace» is a novel”
etc.
RDFS defines resources and classes:
everything in RDF is a “resource”
“classes” are also resources, but…
…they are also a collection of possible resources (i.e.,
“individuals”)
“fiction”, “novel”, …

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Classes, resources, … (cont.)

Relationships are defined among resources:
“typing”: an individual belongs to a specific class
“«The Glass Palace» is a novel”
to be more precise: “«http://.../000651409X» is a novel”
“subclassing”: all instances of one are also the instances
of the other (“every novel is a fiction”)
RDFS formalizes these notions in RDF

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Classes, resources in RDF(S)

rdfs:Class
rdf:type
http://…isbn/000651409X #Novel
RDFS defines the meaning of these terms

(these are all special URI-s, we just use the namespace
abbreviation)

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Inferred properties
#Fiction
rdf:type
http://…isbn/000651409X #Novel
(<http://…/isbn/000651409X> rdf:type #Fiction)
is not in the original RDF data…

…but can be inferred from the RDFS rules
RDFS environments return that triple, too
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Inference: let us be formal…

The RDF Semantics document has a list of (33)
entailment rules:
“if such and such triples are in the graph, add this and
this”
do that recursively until the graph does not change
The relevant rule for our example:
If:
uuu rdfs:subClassOf xxx .
vvv rdf:type uuu .
Then add:
vvv rdf:type xxx .

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Properties
Property is a special class (rdf:Property)
properties are also resources identified by URI-s
There is also a possibility for a “sub-property”
all resources bound by the “sub” are also bound by the
other
Range and domain of properties can be specified
i.e., what type of resources serve as object and subject

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Example for property characterization
:title
rdf:type rdf:Property;
rdfs:domain :Fiction;
rdfs:range rdfs:Literal.

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What does this mean?

Again, new relations can be deduced. Indeed, if
:title
rdf:type rdf:Property;
rdfs:domain :Fiction;
rdfs:range rdfs:Literal.
<http://…/isbn/000651409X> :title "The Glass Palace" .
then the system can infer that:
<http://…/isbn/000651409X> rdf:type :Fiction .

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Literals
Literals may have a data type
floats, integers, booleans, etc, defined in XML Schemas
full XML fragments
(Natural) language can also be specified

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Examples for datatypes
<http://…/isbn/000651409X>
:page_number "543"^^xsd:integer ;
:publ_date "2000"^^xsd:gYear ;
:price "6.99"^^xsd:float .

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How to get and create RDF Data?

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Simple approach
Write RDF/XML, RDFa, or Turtle “manually”
In some cases that is necessary, but it really does
not scale…

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RDF with XHTML

Obviously, a huge source of information
By adding some “meta” information, the same
source can be reused for, eg, data integration,
better mashups, etc
typical example: your personal information, like address,
should be readable for humans and processable by
machines

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RDF with XML/(X)HTML (cont)

Two solutions have emerged:
use microformats and convert the content into RDF
XSLT is the favorite approach
add RDF-like statements directly into XHTML via RDFa

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Bridge to relational databases

Data on the Web are mostly stored in databases
“Bridges” are being defined:
a layer between RDF and the relational data
RDB tables are “mapped” to RDF graphs, possibly on the fly
different mapping approaches are being used
a number RDB systems offer this facility already (eg,
Oracle, OpenLink, …)
W3C has some work on this area:
https://www.w3.org/2001/sw/rdb2rdf/

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RDB2RDF Translation approaches and tools

Check out this technical report:
A survey of RDB to RDF translation approaches and tools.

Franck Michel et al.
https://credible.i3s.unice.fr/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=credible-13-2-v1-rdb2rdf.pdf

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07/07/2017

Resource Description Framework

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

Resource Description Framework (RDF)

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

Formal data model

RDF - Examples of Use

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

RDF and "The Semantic Web"

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

RDF: Basic Concepts

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

RDF: Basic Concepts (Cont..)

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

RDF: Basic Concepts (Cont..)

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

Three Views of a Statement

The simplest way of interpreting this statement is to use

We can think of this triple (x, P, y) as a logical formula P(x, y),

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

Three Views of a Statement (Cont..)

It is a directed graph with labeled nodes and arcs.

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

Three Views of a Statement (Cont..)

(#DavidBillington, http://www.mydomain.org/phone, "3875507")

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

Three Views of a Statement (Cont..)

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

Three Views of a Statement (Cont..)

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

RDF Resource, Property, and Property Value

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

RDF triples (cont.)

RDF Data Model

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

RDF Model Primitives

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

RDF Model Example

John’s Home Page

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

John’s Home Page

Basic RDF Example

Title Name Email

John’s Home Page John Smith js@corp.com

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

Structured Value Example

dc:Title Name Email

John’s Home Page John Smith js@corp.com

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

Structured Value Example - 1

Structured Value Example - 2

... Description Resource 2

rdf:about sets the subject URI of a statement, which may be absolute

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

An Introduction to Web Semantic Technologies

We can give an ID (reify) to the previous statement :