I’ve been following what I think is one of the great stories for 2009 that will shape the future of the internet for a few weeks on this blog. That story is the release of linked data resources from the New York Times. What they are calling Linked Open Data.

Essentially, what the Times has done is release the glue that they use internally to create a structure for the way that words – their context, sentiment and definition relate to one another. This is some powerful stuff. Once developers get their hands on this stuff they start to link content together in new ways. Many of them meaningful ways that can allow publishers to write better content due to discovery of similar content. Others have value in search and topic recommendation.

For example, say you wanted to create a chart for the public sentiment regarding an individual or a business over a span of time. Where would you get that data? From a semantic engine that speaks a structured language that knows where and how to group linked open data. The deal is that the internet is full of it. The problem is that most of it is not structured, or glued to keep this thing going, in a way that lends itself to linking content together very well.

Enter the New York Times to release their own internal structure and namespaces that they have been building for decades. They use it with a wealth of content day after day when journalists add their stories to the Times’ corpus. It is the mechanism for creating order from the chaos that is language.

Today, Evan Sandhaus (@kansandhaus), Semantic Technologist for the NYT, released another iteration for their Linked Open Data to the public. It consists of URL updates, explanations on changes (changelog) and some future enhancements to the RDF structure and beyond:

1. New York Times namespace documentation
2. More mappings from subject headings to dbpedia and freebase
3. Sample applications of data

Sandhaus points out at the end of this release that most of the changes are community driven. So if you’re interested in the semantic web and want to have a say in how this great project rolls on get involved.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/4

New York Times Iterates Linked Open Data is a post from: TechStartups.com

Remember our post about five people that were changing journalism? I do.

And with the very fresh release of Linked Open Data by the New York Times, we begin the next phase of the semantic web today.

The New York Times is in the initial phase of opening up their news vocabularies to the public. Throw in a dash of linked data and some serious structure in RDF and the push begins to become the brand associated with the prevailing taxonomy.

It is important that attention is paid to this release because it is the first salvo of its kind by a new organization that is making a play to maintain it relevance and revenue stream. Next versions of the web will be built on structured and linked data and the ability to make it portable.

The cyclical pattern that content will travel in the future between devices for consumption, the sharing of and the monitoring of will rely on the ability to speak a common language around the language. Ya feel me? I’m sure you do.

The internet needed its own language, terms and definitions wrapped around it simply to be explained. The data that travels on it is in the same need now. The talk of filters and too much content is dominant on today’s web and tomorrow’s web is lacking codification. Enter the New York Times and a new phase of startups that will shape this new lexicon and how those words link together.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

New York Times Brings Us Linked Open Data is a post from: TechStartups.com