Resource Description

Framework (RDF)

Presented by:
Jonathan Catlett
 Presentation Topics
 Background
 Overview
 Example
 What is RDF?
 History
 Syntax
 Conclusion
 Background
 Metadata
 Structured data about data
 Used by clients (web browsers) to improve
discovery and access of distributed
information.
 Usually imbedded into HTML to tell the
browser what information is contained in
the page.
 Background
 Ontology
 Describes the structure of information at
different levels of abstraction.
 A tree-like structure which can be used to
describe semantics.
 Parse trees
 For this presentation we will use an
ontology only to describe the hierarchy of
the resources or information.
 Ontology
Word

Noun Verb

Cause_to_change_
Dog, Cat, etc.
location

Throw, Roll, etc.

 Overview
 The Resource Description Framework is
an infrastructure that enables the
exchange of metadata structured in an
ontology.
 Let us show this using an example!
 Example!
 Lets say there is a document server and
a client that would like a list of the
documents.
 Very simple example.
 We will see sample syntax later.
Get document Information

Client Server

HTTP/ XML metadata

 Another Example!
 What about a server that maintains
bookmarks instead of documents?
 Pretty simple!
 Now what if one of the bookmarks is a link to
a script that will list all of the client’s current
email on the server?
 Then the structure gets more complex and
dynamic.
 This is where the RDF’s ability to handle the
ontology is needed.
 What is RDF?
 Developed by the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C) to provide a
standard for defining an architecture for
supporting the vast amount of web
metadata.
 Implemented using XML!
 Since it is an application of XML, it inherits
the syntax from XML.
 Namespaces for example.
 What is RDF?
 Human and machine readable
 Machine-readable just means that it
maintains the structure of the ontology.
 This is very important.
 What is RDF?
 For example, the following two sentences
mean the same thing to a human, but are
very different to a machine.
 “The author of Document 1 is John Smith”
 “John Smith is the author of Document 1”
 RDF maintains the semantics and is
unambiguous.
What is the RDF Data Model?
 This is how the data is represented
using XML.
 A Resource is any object identifiable by a
URI.
 The properties associated with a resource
are property-types.
 Each property-type has a value.
 A collection of property-types for the same
resource is called a Description.
 RDF Data Model Diagram

Resource1 Property_type 1 Resource2 Property_Type 2 "Value"

Property_type 3 Property_type 4

"Value" "Value"
What is the RDF Data Model?
 These Descriptions are kept
unambiguous using the XML syntax and
namespaces.
 Property-types may also contain
collections of values
 Bags – Simple collection
 Sequence – Order matters
 Alternative – If-then type structure.
 History
 How did this all come about you may ask.
 Metadata began in 1995 with PICS.
 Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS)
 Mechanism for communicating ratings of web pages from
server to clients.
 Content control
 Introduced a general mechanism for creating rating
system.
 No fixed set of criteria.
 History
 W3C started thinking about the general
problem of Interned resource description
based on the PICS architecture.
 W3C formed the PICS-NG (Next
Generation) working group.
 This eventually led to the development of
the Resource Description Framework (RDF)
 Syntax
 Simple document report
<? xml version="1.0" ?>
<RDF xmlns = "http://w3.org/TR/1999/PR-rdf-syntax-19990105#"
xmlns:DC = "http://purl.org/DC#" >

<Description about = "http://dstc.com.au/report.html" >

<DC:Title> The Future of Metadata </DC:Title>
<DC:Creator> Jacky Crystal </DC:Creator>
<DC:Date> 1998-01-01 </DC:Date>
<DC:Subject> Metadata, RDF, Dublin Core </DC:Subject>
</Description>
</RDF>
 Syntax
 Complex Value
...
<DC:Creator parseType="Resource">
<vCard:FN> Dr Jacky J Crystal </vCard:FN>
<vCard:TITLE> Director </vCard:TITLE>
<vCard:EMAIL> jacky@dstc.com.au </vCard:EMAIL>
<vCard:ROLE> Researcher </vCard:ROLE>
</DC:Creator>
...
 Syntax
 Bag
...
<DC:Creator>
<Bag>
<li> Maddie Azzurii </li>
<li> Corky Brown </li>
<li> Jacky Crystal </li>
</Bag>
</DC:Creator>
...
 Syntax
 Sequence
...
<DC:Creator>
<Seq>
<li> Maddie Azzurii </li>
<li> Corky Brown </li>
<li> Jacky Crystal </li>
</Seq>
</DC:Creator>
...
 Syntax
 Alternative
...
<vCard:ROLE>
<Alt>
<li xml:lang="en"> Programmer </li>
<li xml:lang="fr"> Programmeur </li>
<li xml:lang="it"> Programmatore </li>
</Alt>
</vCard:ROLE>
...
 Syntax
 RDF Schema
<? xml version="1.0" ?>
<RDF xmlns = "http://w3.org/TR/PR-rdf-syntax#" xmlns:RDFS = "http://w3.org/TR/WD-rdf-schema#" >

<Description ID = "Title" >

<type resource = "http://w3.org/TR/PR-rdf-syntax#Property" />
<RDFS:label> Title </RDFS:label>
<RDFS:comment> The name given to the resource, usually by the Creator or Publisher </RDFS:comment>
</Description>

<Description ID = "Creator" >

<type resource = "http://w3.org/TR/PR-rdf-syntax#Property" />
<RDFS:label> Author or Creator </RDFS:label>
<RDFS:comment> The person or organisation primarily responsible for the intellectual
content of the resource
</RDFS:comment>
</Description>
</RDF>
 Conclusion
 RDF provides a needed standard for
describing resources between client and
server.
 The next step is to get organizations to use
the RDF instead of proprietary resource
descriptions.
 The increasing popularity of XML and JAVA
should help the acceptance of RDF.
 Resources
 An Introduction to the Resource Description
Framework
 www.dlib.org/dlib/may98/miller/05miller.html
 An Idiot’s Guide to the Resource Description
Framework
 www.dstc.edu.au/Research/Projects/rdf/RDF-Idiot.html
 RDF: In Fifty Words or Less
 www.mozilla.org/rdf/50-words.html