Nifty elevator interface. #skeumorph #nasig13 (Photo credit: BryanAlexander)

What are Skeumorphs?
In designing and developing new software systems and applications, a common strategy is to attempt to approximate device user interfaces to mimic or look like real-world physical objects. This is called a Skeumorph, or a skeumorphic design.

Some of the biggest problems with Skeumorphs are that they are time-sensitive and may not actually do a great job at approximating a particular item or interface from the real-world. For example, we still use the floppy disk to represent “Save” activities, when an entire generation of computer and internet users have grown up without the use of Floppy Disks.

This approach to implementing software solutions has been propagated by Apple in particular, as well as a number of other companies such as Adobe and Microsoft of late. On the other side of the fence is Google and Microsoft who have traditionally had very non-Skeumorphic designs that feel more like using a software interface than approximating any particular object in the real-world.

Where do Skeumorphs work?
Here are a few examples of types of interfaces for which I think Skeumorphs tend to work well (for the most part):

• Calendars
• E-Reader Bookshelf
• Icons
• Text Editors
• Media Players
• Buttons
• Text fields
• Edit-in-place Text
• Tabs (as markers in a book, folder or binder)
• Pages and paging (flipping through pages)
• Voice controls
• Toggle Buttons
• Fullscreen applications
• 3D Models
• CAD (engineering design)

What are some non-Skeumorph design elements?
Some examples of non-Skeumorphic designs and Flat Design features would also be useful for comparison:

• Lists
• Search Results
• Scrolling
• Infinite Scrolling
• Flexible Grid
• Hyperlinks
• 3D navigation components (i.e. Spherical/Cubic)
• Carousels/Sliders
• Accordion
• Dashboards
• File Uploads
• Progress Bars
• Most Animations
• Dropdowns
• Multi-selects
• Tiles (i.e. Windows 8 Metro app tiles, Google iCalendar, widgets, etc)
• Word Clouds
• Zoom in/out
• Virtual Tours
• Drawing (graphic design)

Side-by-Side Comparison

So let’s see some side-by-side examples of Skeumorphs .vs. Flat Designs that are each relevant in their own rights:

Conclusion

While I agree in principle that we should not constantly consider Skeumorphs as the best or only design approach, I would argue that they certainly have their time and place where they can be a viable if not superior alternative in terms of usability. In particular, it helps in the first generation of an application where an entire system is moving for the first time from physical modes of interaction such as paper and mechanical to electronic and digital ones such as HTML forms or touch interfaces. Making things look familiar gives useful cues to users trying to adjust to the new application for the first time, and can definitely ease the move from physical to digital. At the same time, we can sometimes accomplish more by going beyond the limitations of the physical world and stepping outside our comfort zones and ingrained processes.

Related Articles

• Design Fads vs. Design Trends
• Skeumorphic versus flat design
• A Eulogy for Skeuomorphism
• Seth’s Blog: Skeumorphs = failure
• Skeumorphic vs. Flat is beating the wrong dead horse

Radiation is all around us. The sun produces it as do our electronics; but how much radiation can a person of a given age be exposed to until said exposure results in adverse health effects (whether immediate or long-term and experienced some time down the road).

OSHA radiation spectrum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

DISCLAIMER:
This is a blog post by an IT Worker and Tech Consumer intended to provide general thoughts about possible ways to theoretically improve one’s life, and is not intended to be used as medical advice or nutritional guidelines in any way, shape, or form. Please consult a physician, nutritionist or official government authority such as Health Canada‘s Healthy Food Guide, CMA, AMA or the CDC, along with numerous other sources to get a wider perspective, before making any life-altering decisions.

There are two types of radiation to worry about, namely: ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.

Non-ionizing radiation is a product of natural sources such as cosmic and atmospheric radiation , the largest of which is the sun which cause minimal damage as long as they are taken in limited daily doses (you are likely to burn your skin from ultraviolet light rays so bad that you’ll have to get out of the sun, before you harm yourself from the sun’s natural non-ionizing radiation). Airline pilots, stewardesses and other workers as well as military personnel and other frequent flyers tend to be exposed to elevated levels of cosmic radiation, which after enough accumulation (typically in terms of years), could cause some long-term health problems.

On the other hand, Ionizing radiation rays are the product of unnatural sources such as X-Rays, MRIs, Body Scanners at airports and assorted electronics, cause the most harm to the human body and have effects that reach to the genetic and molecular level.

Consumers

Almost every electronic product we use today emits some kind of Electro-Magnetic Frequency (EMF), Heat or Electricity output. From cellphones to computers and from Refrigerators to Microwave Ovens. While the average Consumer’s electronics give off very low levels of Ionizing radiation, some are obviously much worse culprits than others. For mobile phones (cellphones) in particular, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) provides a measure called the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) which measures values for cell phones (and other wireless devices). SAR is a measure of the rate of RF (RadioFrequency) energy absorption by the body from the source being measured. The following is a table of some of the top selling cellphone brands with both sales figures and SAR exposure rates shown:

Radiation Data courtesy of SAR Shield‘s Radiation Chart and Sales Figures couresy of  Wikipedia.

One trend that presents itself as you look through the sales data and compare it to the radiation ratings is that the first generation of a device brand (regardless of line) tends to have higher radiation ratings than predecessors, and as they try to cram more and more features and computing power into subsequent releases of a given line, the SAR continues to spike sharply upwards, then finally as the brand matures they figure out how to better manage the power and radiation emissions and the SAR drops or maintains its level thereafter. So the takeaway is to buy mature product lines first, or, new product lines which received a very good SAR rating that was lower than older handsets (rare but happens). It may be better stay away from early adoption and first sequel releases until the line has been proven on the market for at least 2-3 years (about the typical cellphone contract duration). These days, practical every phone has the same functions anyway, so ask yourself, do you really need a phone with almost as much RAM/ROM as your laptop or desktop computer? Do you need a nuclear reactor (heatwise) in your pocket at all times of the day, just to send a text message, make a call, watch the odd video or comment on your friends’ status updates? Probably not, so go for the safer (and often times cheaper) established models not the latest and greatest.

Using a hands-free headset may help keep the high-powered wireless transceiver and heat-giving battery cells further away from your face, however if you’re switching to bluetooth or other radio transmitter you may just be trading one atmospheric pollution for another. Traditional radio frequencies are better than Bluetooth, which is better than a Wireless hotspot, which is better than using the phone directly next to your head. Any speaker phone or voice command functions built into the phone itself could also go a long way if you can handle the frustration of trying to get it (or the person on the other side) to recognize what you are saying as you repeat yourself over and over (again, perhaps trading one form of bodily stress for mental stress and extra work which surely doesn’t help that much).  Either way, carrying (when not in use) and holding (when in use) the phone away from your head and body whenever possible (especially when a call is connecting or large amount of data is being pulled down from the mobile network), and reducing durations of use, especially by children, will be a helpful course of action on the short-term. When it comes to larger devices like tablets, e-readers or laptops, never use those items directly on your bare skin, or on your legs/crotch region (even through clothes the heat they generate can be enough to cause damage to sperm count and/or potential have carcinogenic side-effects in both males and females).

IT Workers

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EHR Adoption Framework (Photo credit: andyde)

I’ve been thinking a lot about ways that Health Care and the medical system in general can be improved through the use of IT. In the United States right now, we are over 1 year into the so-called “Meaningful Use” guidelines established by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009. This means that thousands of doctors, clinics, hospitals and other care facilities are getting beyond the ramping up stage into potential “Meaningful Use” territory. However, what the government considers a meaningful usage of technology may not necessarily be the silver bullet for solving an entire industry’s IT challenges.

Meaningful Use – Core Requirements

1. Use computerized order entry for medication orders.
2. Implement drug-drug, drug-allergy checks.
3. Generate and transmit permissible prescriptions electronically.
4. Record demographics.
5. Maintain an up-to-date problem list of current and active diagnoses.
6. Maintain active medication list.
7. Maintain active medication allergy list.
8. Record and chart changes in vital signs.
9. Record smoking status for patients 13 years old or older.
10. Implement one clinical decision support rule.
11. Report ambulatory quality measures to CMS or the States.
12. Provide patients with an electronic copy of their health information upon request.
13. Provide clinical summaries to patients for each office visit.
14. Capability to exchange key clinical information electronically among providers and patient authorized entities.
15. Protect electronic health information (privacy & security)

Meaningful Use – Menu Requirements

• Implement drug-formulary checks.
• Incorporate clinical lab-test results into certified EHR as structured data.
• Generate lists of patients by specific conditions to use for quality improvement, reduction of disparities, research, and outreach.
• Send reminders to patients per patient preference for preventive/ follow-up care.
• Provide patients with timely electronic access to their health information (including lab results, problem list, medication lists, allergies).
• Use certified EHR to identify patient-specific education resources and provide to patient if appropriate.
• Perform medication reconciliation as relevant.
• Provide summary care record for transitions in care or referrals.
• Capability to submit electronic data to immunization registries and actual submission.
• Capability to provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies and actual transmission.

The following excellent eHealth overview diagram shows the most popular standards in each touch point of the healthcare ecosystem (from care to billing):

EHR
An Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a comprehensive system that chronicles at least the following minimum information:

• Patient Information
• History
• Allergies
• Medications
• Treatments/Procedures
• Doctors’ Notes on visitations or encounters

OpenECG standard logo

ECG

• RR interval The interval between an R wave and the next R wave . Normal resting heart rate is between 60 and 100 bpm 0.6 to 1.2s
• P wave During normal atrial depolarization, the main electrical vector is directed from the SA node towards the AV node, and spreads from the right atrium to the left atrium. This turns into the P wave on the ECG. 80ms
• PR interval The PR interval is measured from the beginning of the P wave to the beginning of the QRS complex. The PR interval reflects the time the electrical impulse takes to travel from the sinus node through the AV node and entering the ventricles. The PR interval is therefore a good estimate of AV node function. 120 to 200ms
• PR segment The PR segment connects the P wave and the QRS complex. The impulse vector is from the AV node to the bundle of His to the bundle branches and then to the Purkinje Fibers. This electrical activity does not produce a contraction directly and is merely traveling down towards the ventricles and this shows up flat on the ECG. The PR interval is more clinically relevant. 50 to 120ms
• QRS complex The QRS complex reflects the rapid depolarization of the right and left ventricles. They have a large muscle mass compared to the atria and so the QRS complex usually has a much larger amplitude than the P-wave. 80 to 120ms
• J-point The point at which the QRS complex finishes and the ST segment begins. Used to measure the degree of ST elevation or depression present.
• ST segment The ST segment connects the QRS complex and the T wave. The ST segment represents the period when the ventricles are depolarized. It is isoelectric. 80 to 120ms
• T wave The T wave represents the repolarization (or recovery) of the ventricles. The interval from the beginning of the QRS complex to the apex of the T wave is referred to as the absolute refractory period. The last half of the T wave is referred to as the relative refractory period (or vulnerable period). 160ms
• ST interval The ST interval is measured from the J point to the end of the T wave. 320ms
• QT interval The QT interval is measured from the beginning of the QRS complex to the end of the T wave. A prolonged QT interval is a risk factor for ventricular tachyarrhythmias and sudden death. It varies with heart rate and for clinical relevance requires a correction for this, giving the QTc. Up to 420ms in heart rate of 60 bpm. See diagram at right for other heart rates.
• U wave The U wave is hypothesized to be caused by the repolarization of the interventricular septum. They normally have a low amplitude, and even more often completely absent. They always follow the T wave and also follow the same direction in amplitude. If they are too prominent we suspect hypokalemia, hypercalcemia or hyperthyroidism usually.
• J wave The J wave, elevated J-Point or Osborn Wave appears as a late delta wave following the QRS or as a small secondary R wave . It is considered pathognomonic of hypothermia or hypocalcemia.

There are other rival standards to OpenECG’s SCP-ECG is HL7 aECG.

DICOM medical imaging standards

DICOM
Patients may have had any number of previous X-Rays, CT Scans, MRIs, Ultrasound procedures or other advanced 3D Images taken. In this case, a web-based DICOM viewer would provide the instant access needed to make decisions quicker and more reliably.

HL7

HL7

A standardized Messaging format is required to send Patient data between offices, which is where Health Level Seven (HL7) comes into the picture. Why is the standard called HL7? This is an important question with a relatively straightforward answer, but it requires a quick trip into Computer Science history. The number seven in HL7 refers to the top level of the seven-layer International Standards Organization’s (ISO) communications model for Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) – the application layer. The application level addresses definition of the data to be exchanged, the timing of the interchange, and the communication of certain errors to the application. The infamous OSI Model for network communications is listed in descending order with Application layer on top, as follows:
7. Application
6. Presentation
5. Session
4. Transport
3. Network
2. Data Link
1. Physical

The seventh level at which HL7 was implemented also supports important functions such as security checks, participant identification, availability checks, exchange mechanism negotiations and, most importantly, data exchange structuring. HL7 focuses on the interface requirements of the entire health care organization, while most other efforts focus on the requirements of a particular department such as Radiology or Critical Care. HL7 undertakes ongoing development of protocols on the fastest possible track that is both responsive and responsible to its members. The group addresses unique requirements of the already installed hospital and departmental systems all over the world in over 40 countries, some of which use mature or legacy technologies (via HL7 version 2), and others of which use more cutting-edge systems (that support both the older and less expressive version 2 and the XML-based version 3 of the HL7 messaging standard).

The following is an example of the original version of HL7 version 2:

MSH|^~&|MegaReg|XYZHospC|SuperOE|XYZImgCtr|20060529090131-0500||ADT^A01^ADT_A01|01052901|P|2.5
EVN||200605290901||||200605290900
PID|||56782445^^^UAReg^PI||KLEINSAMPLE^BARRY^Q^JR||19620910|M||2028-9^^HL70005^RA99113^^XYZ|260 GOODWIN CREST DRIVE^^BIRMINGHAM^AL^35 209^^M~NICKELL’S PICKLES^10000 W 100TH AVE^BIRMINGHAM^AL^35200^^O |||||||0105I30001^^^99DEF^AN
PV1||I|W^389^1^UABH^^^^3||||12345^MORGAN^REX^J^^^MD^0010^UAMC^L||678 90^GRAINGER^LUCY^X^^^MD^0010^UAMC^L|MED|||||A0||13579^POTTER^SHER MAN^T^^^MD^0010^UAMC^L|||||||||||||||||||||||||||200605290900
OBX|1|NM|^Body Height||1.80|m^Meter^ISO+|||||F
OBX|2|NM|^Body Weight||79|kg^Kilogram^ISO+|||||F
AL1|1||^ASPIRIN
DG1|1||786.50^CHEST PAIN, UNSPECIFIED^I9|||A

The HAPI Test Panel is an HL7 v2.x test tool that should come in handy for testing purposes on older v 2.x messages.

Here is the equivalent message in the new Reference Information Model (RIM) for HL7 version 3 (which is now an XML-based, more machine-readable format):

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <PRPA_IN101001UV01 ITSVersion="XML_1.0" xmlns="urn:hl7-org:v3" 
       xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
   <id extension="3948375" root="2.16.840.1.113883.19.10.700363.2288"/>
   <creationTime value="20060501140010"/>
   <versionCode code="NE2006"/>
   <!-- Interaction is a notification of a person registration -->
   <interactionId extension="PRPA_IN101001UV01" root="2.16.840.1.113883.1.6"/>
   <processingCode code="P"/>
   <processingModeCode code="T"/>
   <acceptAckCode code="ER"/>
   <receiver>
     <device>
     <id extension="922" root="2.16.840.1.113883.19.9"/>
     <name>Master MPI</name>
       <asAgent>
         <representedOrganization>
           <id extension="1002003" root="2.16.840.1.113883.19.200"/>
           <name>Alpha Hospital</name>
         </representedOrganization>
       </asAgent>
     </device>
   </receiver>
   <sender>
     <device>
       <id extension="1" root="2.16.840.1.113883.19.9"/>
     </device>
   </sender>
   <controlActProcess moodCode="EVN">
     <code code="PRPA_TE101001UV01" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.1.18"/>
     <effectiveTime value="20060501140008"/>
     <authorOrPerformer typeCode="AUT">
       <assignedPerson>
         <id extension="000338475" root="2.16.840.1.113883.19.201"/>
         <assignedPerson>
           <name use="L">
             <given>Arthur</given>
             <family>Author</family>
           </name>
         </assignedPerson>
         <representedOrganization>
           <id extension="1002777" root="2.16.840.1.113883.19.200"/>
           <name>Regional Person Registry</name>
         </representedOrganization>
       </assignedPerson>
     </authorOrPerformer>
     <subject>

     <!-- registration event has been removed
          see next section of this whitepaper-->

     </subject>
    </controlActProcess>
 </PRPA_IN101001UV01>

http://www.ringholm.de/docs/01200_en_HL7v3_using_HL7v2_terms.htm

http://www.ringholm.de/docs/04300_en.htm

Billing
As the book offers, billing is one of the most complicated parts of the healthcare industry. It can provide multiple Beneficiaries (Non-Profit Organizations & Individuals), Payers (Insurers & Government bodies), Providers (Hospitals & Clinics) and potentially if drugs or procedures are involved, Prescribers (Doctors & Nurses). Due to the nature and urgency of medical care, billing is often done after-the-fact to recoup costs of the procedure, but planned or “elective” care procedures are almost always carefully calculated and accounted for before service is provided.

The leading billing standard is X12 and billing “transactions” are carried out based on specific procedure or billing codes, usually ICD-9 (however, by 2014 the required standard for coding will be ICD-10).

Scheduling

For scheduling, there are no clear “de facto” standards but iCalendar and CalDav are dominant in email-interfacing segments of EHR scheduling software due to their support in Microsoft Exchange and other major email servers and providers. These options, however, do not take into account the unique needs of the Medical community which may require secure transfer of patient information between clinics, labs, major hospitals, insurance providers, 2nd-party payers, government and banking institutions. In addition, health facilities need to coordinate staff, rooms and medical equipment around a given visitation or procedure being scheduled. All things that are nearly impossible to get right using simple calendaring extensions to existing email and filing software.

Patient-editable
The ability for a patient to be able to access and potentially edit their own electronic health record is key to any successful and meaningful implementation of an EHR system.

Speech Recognition
Nuance’s Dragon Medical, and similar offerings from Speech Recognition software providers should be high up on the list of meaningful use. It can free the healthcare provider from staring at a screen rather than interacting with the patient, which helps prevent the .

Conclusion

So what is the most meaningful use of EHR in Health Care? Well, it really depends on your unique setting and needs, but the most unobtrusive combination of well-tested and popularly employed standards is surely at its core.

Related Articles

• Where is the Value in Health IT?
• More on electronic health records
• Doc-Office Use of Basic EHRs Hits Nearly 40%, Survey Finds.
• How long until patients see the benefits of meaningful use of EHRs?

Cami Hadley and the team over at Cable.tv have created an excellent infographic that summarizes the state of Reality TV singing competitions:

Created by www.Cable.tv

While this does an excellent job of showing the behind-the-scenes absurdity of big budget Reality TV shows, a better question is why is these types of shows are such big-budget events? People are competitive by nature, we compete for our jobs: raises, position promotions, trips to conferences, etc; we compete in our hobbies (sports, gambling, recreational games, even video games against competitors online); we even compete in our personal lives: for love, affection, attention of our family, significant others and friends (if unintentionally). So in that sense, I can see the draw of the Reality TV show concept.

However, it is also an undeniable fact that these shows are little more than “glorified Karaoke Competitions”. Personally, just like I’m not that interested in a particular subset of channels/shows that have been pre-selected for me by a TV Studio Executive, I’m not that interested in a very limited representation of only the most “camera-friendly” Karaoke singers. Often times, some of the most talented people are overlooked on these shows, and only rare cases like Carrie Underwood have gone on to mega success afterwards; though in her case its arguable that she would have found such success without her participation in the show. Instead, what I’d like to see is a truly global “Karaoke Competition” which allows people from all walks of life to participate. With over 10% of the population of the US now being Spanish-speakers (35 million) as their native language and millions of others speaking languages other than English (i.e. Chinese, French, German, Korean, etc), it would also be great to include a much more diverse range of musical styles and languages in such competitions. I’m picturing a meld of all the various “Idol” style shows now in production worldwide, or perhaps a “World Idol” format that hopefully brings countries and peoples together rather than dividing on musical tastes and preferences (lets hope WWIII would not be started by a disagreement over who should win “World Idol”, but I digress).

It gives me great pleasure though, to think of all the cases of people “making it”, not after their appearance on one of these tacky glorified karaoke competition shows, but after posting their talents online on sites like BC$ MobileTV (ok, not our’s exactly but online video sites in general, i.e. king of online video YouTube, just check the YouTube personalities list most of which enjoy more success than most Karaoke comp. participants and even finalists). On the other hand, we all know how that can go just as tacky and annoying as the Karaoke comps themselves, just ask Justin Bieber or Gangnam Style’s PSY if you don’t believe me. In general though, for each case of success after a Karaoke Competition TV show, there at least 10 or more cases of self-produced, self-promoted and self-generated success through one of the many venues available on the great equalizer of the internet.

In closing, I’d like to suggest that it would also be a good idea to get rid of the judges and donate their salaries to a good cause, I mean really do these “celebrities” need to be paid millions of dollars to sit there and put their thumbs up or down? I’ve got a better idea where they could put those thumbs. For instance, Simon Cowell’s total take is $75 million USD which is more than the bottom three countries in global GDP (Naura, Montserrat and Tuvalu). Instead, why not have color-commentary provided by random members of the audience or people calling in from home. I think that would make for a much more interesting show, and while it would take some coordination and filtering much like trying to create a PG-13 version of the comments section on YouTube (I’m certain we’d find everything from gracious praises to troll-like baiting and insults); wow, would it ever be interesting!

In the meantime, these shows will continue to enjoy their popularity and we’ll continue to work on the technology required to put a global internet TV show like “World Idol” together.

Related Articles

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• An autism reality show…run by Andrew Wakefield?
• Top 15 YouTube Success Stories in Music
  

W3c semantic web stack (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Semantic Web is beginning to gain steam along with the related (but separate) NoSQL and BigData movements; but what is the Semantic Web (commonly abbreviated “SW”)? The term itself sounds like some uber geek-speak and turns off most people without a technical background and appreciation of web evolution almost immediately after hearing it. However, whether the business world knows it or not, the Semantic Web will be the defining information technology of this decade (2010-2020). Let me start this off with the abridged version for the very impatient, by providing three simple definitions of three key terms RDF, LOD and SW. Sorry, but reading through these three are necessary to be able to understand the core concept of the Semantic Web…

RDF
“Resource Description Framework is a building block technology (like a single lego brick) to enable the Semantic Web to be built”.

LOD
“Linked Open Data is a set of best practices, policies and guidelines for connecting datasets on the Web to make them more Semantic (like the instruction manual for a pack of legos, detailing how to put your bricks together to make them match the image on the box, so that you get what you expected and can then show it off to others and they can understand what you’ve created and how you’ve done it).”

SW
“The Semantic Web is a cross-domain network of data, services and applications built upon the World Wide Web  in a particular manner, such that the data, services and applications can be easily interconnected in novel ways (like a big, “constantly updated” encyclopaedia/guidebook of all the cool structures and combinations that have EVER been made with Legos – such as towers, castles, dinosaurs, robots, vehicles, animals, scenes, and just about anything people can dream up)”.

Linked Data and Semantic Web Defined In Detail

Linked Open Data (LOD)

Linked = connected
Open = accessible
Data = information

Tim O’Reilly confessed to hearing Linked Open Data was initially envisioned as a “sexier” more mainstream-friendly rebranding of Semantic Web which sounds too abstract and complex for most people. In my opinion though, it is clearly a separate entity with a different but certainly compatible goal.

4 simple rules:

1. Use URIs
2. Use HTTP URIs
3. Serve useful information using SPARQL, RDF standards
4. Mention URIs of related objects

How did we get here?

The Theory of Biological Evolution In the beginning… • the world was full of genetic code • this code formed into vessels of information • the basic unit of biological information was known as: the gene • the gene could store, duplicate, and transmit data • with duplication came interpretation and mutation • with mutation came specialization • genes better suited for certain tasks begun to work together • beneficial partnerships led to the first “organisms”. Ok, maybe that’s a little too far back, but I think you get my point.

Where are we going?

Just as in the biological evolution of the world as we know it, likewise, the world of the web is undergoing a constant evolution. In the words of the inventor of the World Wide Web and the original Semantic Web visionary himself, Tim Berners-Lee:

The first step is putting data on the Web in a form that machines can naturally understand, or converting it to that form. This creates what I call a Semantic Web – a web of data that can be processed directly or indirectly by machines.

This really points to a natural evolution of the Web, which is probably why marketers and technologists hoping to raise interest and hype have tried to put “version numbers” on it:

Graphic courtesy of Nova Spivack’s Web Evolution presentation

In fact, in the case of the Semantic Web, the “guidebook” comes with a lot more than just a simple “text-based” table of contents. It also comes with an interactive user interface (think of a CD/DVD or “special Download Link” to an app with license code that you find accompanying some books) that then gives you access to an incredible wealth of information, but its no ordinary software because it includes:

• Interactive and easily searchable full text that can even accept spoken input and instantly take you to the correct page for learning how to build something or get the right parts, accessories, and other resources
• Aggregated, Ranked and Filtered authoritative News sources to keep on top of what other people are building
• Images of finished structures
• Step-by-step Video tutorials
• Live-support Telephone hotlines
• Videoconference sessions with top experts
• Instant Message Text chat services to get free & quick help from other builders
• Companies that can help you build more complex structures such as this replica of the Roman Coliseum
• Reviews on all the companies and backgrounds on their employees, events that are coming up where you can learn from an expert how to build something
• Recommendations of other People to connect to, who want to attempt to build the same thing you do, or who have similar interests/experience
• the ability to repurpose the entire content or any section of it in any way you see fit (i.e. automating quotes/references, searching for more related content around the web, sending in errata, turning text into audio with Text-To-Speech, etc)

How Will We Get There?

Government, Business and Academia must collaborate with open source community and real web users.

TECHNICAL EXPLANATION

The rest of this article is a more technical look at the Semantic Web and its building block technologies.

Resource Description Framework (RDF)

Resource = thing
Description = verb or adjective about the thing
Framework = language (symbols) to use when describing the thing

RDF is sometimes also described as a “subject-object-predicate” relationship which is a complex way of saying it, but in summary RDF is just a statement, it simply says something about how any item in the world is (from a single-cell molecule to the entire Universe or from a user of a chat site to the US president and everything in between). When I say how something “is” I just mean, what color it is, how much it weighs, where it can be found, where it originates from, etc… just about any relationship between things that you can think of, can be described by RDF.

Semantic Web

Semantic = Meaning.
Web = An interlinked, self-supporting structure.

The Semantic Web has been described many times as a Web of Data, but what kind of data? Everything from dates/times of events to titles of books to part numbers and chemical properties, products, devices, locations, addresses, maps, temperatures, phone numbers, email addresses, people’s names, music, videos and ANY other data one might conceive of. The collection of Semantic Web technologies (RDF, OWL, SKOS, SPARQL, XML, XSL) provides an environment where applications can query that data, draw inferences using vocabularies, extract or filter relevant data, and display it all in a coherent manner that makes it easy to find other relationships.

We’ve already heard about RDF being an essential building block, so what does it look like?
WARNING: We can’t go any further without getting into the technical/geeky side of thing, so be warned that it may not look pretty!

RDF is more completely structured than regular data, so that computers can understand it as well as people can. In layman’s terms, you could compare what it would be like for you to only get some scribbles on a napkin from some guy you hired to design your house .vs. getting one of those huge fancy blueprints from a professional with all the measurements taken to scale. Functionally speaking, all you need to know is that RDF is written as XML-compatible code that adds a few unique aspects such as relationships between data in the same document and strict emphasis of namespaces on all Elements and Attributes.

FOAF
The following section is an example of one of the most widely used formats, Friend-Of-A-Friend (FOAF).

FOAF the “de facto” example of RDF (click below to expand):

<rdf:RDF
 xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
 xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
 xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#"
 xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"
 xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#"
 xmlns:owl="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#"
 xmlns:con="http://www.w3.org/2000/10/swap/pim/contact#"
 xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#">
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/2002/01/tr-automation/tr.rdf">
       <dc:title>W3C Standards and Technical Reports</dc:title>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/webdav/timbl/foaf.rdf">
        <cc:license rdf:resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/"/>
        <dc:title>Tim Berners-Lee's FOAF file</dc:title>
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/PersonalProfileDocument"/>
        <foaf:maker rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#i"/>
        <foaf:primaryTopic rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#i"/>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/webdav/timbl/foaf.rdf#cm">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://www.koalie.net/foaf.rdf"/>
        <foaf:name>Coralie Mercier</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/webdav/timbl/foaf.rdf#dj">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://www.grorg.org/dean/foaf.rdf"/>
        <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://www.grorg.org/dean/"/>
        <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:dean@w3.org"/>
        <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:dino@grorg.org"/>
        <foaf:mbox_sha1sum>6de4ff27ef927b9ba21ccc88257e41a2d7e7d293</foaf:mbox_sha1sum>
        <foaf:name>Dean Jackson</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/webdav/timbl/foaf.rdf#edd">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://heddley.com/edd/foaf.rdf"/>
        <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://heddley.com/edd/"/>
        <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:edd@usefulinc.com"/>
        <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:edd@xml.com"/>
        <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:edd@xmlhack.com"/>
        <foaf:name>Edd Dumbill</foaf:name>
        <foaf:nick>edd</foaf:nick>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/webdav/timbl/foaf.rdf#libby">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <owl:sameAs rdf:resource="http://swordfish.rdfweb.org/people/libby/rdfweb/webwho.xrdf#me"/>
        <foaf:img rdf:resource="http://swordfish.rdfweb.org/~libby/libby.jpg"/>
        <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:libby.miller@bristol.ac.uk"/>
        <foaf:name>Libby Miller</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/webdav/timbl/foaf.rdf#ss">
        <foaf:name>Susie Stephens</foaf:name>
        <foaf:organization rdf:resource="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Eli_Lilly_and_Company"/>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://bblfish.net/people/henry/card#me">
       <foaf:name>Henry Story</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dbpedia.org/resource/John_Gage">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:img rdf:resource="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/John_Gage.jpg"/>
        <foaf:name>John Gage</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dbpedia.org/resource/John_Klensin">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:name>John Klensin</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dbpedia.org/resource/John_Markoff">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:name>John Markoff</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dbpedia.org/resource/John_Seely_Brown">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <owl:sameAs rdf:resource="http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/bookmashup/persons/John+Seely+Brown"/>
        <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://www.johnseelybrown.com/"/>
        <foaf:img rdf:resource="http://transliteracies.english.ucsb.edu/images/participants/t/brown-john-seely-2.jpg"/>
        <foaf:name>John Seely Brown</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Tim_Bray">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:name>Tim Bray</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2007/01/camp/data#course">
       <foaf:maker rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#i"/>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2007/wiki/people/JoeLambda#JL">
       <foaf:firstName>Joe</foaf:firstName><foaf:name>Joe Lambda</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2007/wiki/people/RobertHoffmann#RMH">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:name>Robert Hoffmann</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/blog/4">
        <dc:title>timbl's blog</dc:title>
        <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/blog/feed/4"/>
        <foaf:maker rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#i"/>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/data#DIG">
       <foaf:member rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#i"/>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://eikeon.com/foaf.rdf#eikeon">
       <foaf:name>Daniel Krech</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://hometown.aol.com/chbussler/foaf/chbussler.foaf#me">
       <foaf:name>Christoph Bussler</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://id.ecs.soton.ac.uk/person/1269">
       <foaf:name>Nicholas Gibbins</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://id.ecs.soton.ac.uk/person/1650">
       <foaf:name>Wendy Hall</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://id.ecs.soton.ac.uk/person/2686">
       <foaf:name>Nigel Shadbolt</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://id.ecs.soton.ac.uk/person/60">
       <foaf:name>Les Carr</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://inamidst.com/sbp/foaf#Sean">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:name>Sean Palmer</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://my.opera.com/chaals/xml/foaf#me">
       <foaf:name>Charles McCathieNevile</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://my.opera.com/danbri/xml/foaf#me">
        <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://danbri.livejournal.com/data/foaf"/>
        <owl:sameAs rdf:resource="http://danbri.org/foaf.rdf#danbri"/>
        <owl:sameAs rdf:resource="http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/dblp/resource/person/336851"/>
        <foaf:mbox_sha1sum>70c053d15de49ff03a1bcc374e4119b40798a66e</foaf:mbox_sha1sum>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://my.opera.com/howcome/xml/foaf#howcome">
       <foaf:name>HÃ¥kon Wium Lie</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://myopenlink.net/dataspace/person/kidehen#this">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:name>Kingsley Idehen</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://norman.walsh.name/knows/who#norman-walsh">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:name>Norman Walsh</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://people.apache.org/~oshani/foaf.rdf#me">
       <foaf:name>Oshani Seneviratne</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://people.csail.mit.edu/lkagal/foaf#me">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:mailbox rdf:resource="mailto:lalana@csail.mit.edu"/>
        <foaf:name>Lalana Kagal</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://people.csail.mit.edu/psz/foaf.rdf#me">
       <foaf:name>Peter Szolovits</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://people.w3.org/simon/foaf#i">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:name>Simon J. Hernandez</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://qdos.com/people/tom.xrdf#me">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:name>Tom Ilube</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://research.microsoft.com/~henrikn/foaf.xml#me">
       <foaf:name>Henrik Nielsen</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://rit.mellon.org/Members/ihf/foaf.rdf#me">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://www.mellon.org/about_foundation/staff/program-area-staff/irafuchs"/>
        <foaf:img rdf:resource="http://www.sun.com/products-n-solutions/edu/images/jelc/fuchs.jpg"/>
        <foaf:name>Ira Fuchs</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://teole.jfouffa.org/People/Teole/card.rdf#me">
       <foaf:name>Philippe Le Hégaret</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mc/mcfoaf.rdf#me">
       <foaf:name>mc schraefel</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://web.mit.edu/shinnyih/foaf.rdf#">
       <foaf:name>Shinnyih Huang</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://wiki.ontoworld.org/index.php/_IRW2006">
        <dc:title>Identity, Reference and the Web workshop 2006</dc:title>
        <con:participant rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#i"/>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.aaronsw.com/about.xrdf#aaronsw">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://www.aaronsw.com/about.xrdf"/>
        <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:me@aaronsw.com"/>
        <foaf:name>Aaron Swartz</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.cambridgesemantics.com/people/about/lee">
       <foaf:name>Lee Feigenbaum</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.cs.umd.edu/~hendler/2003/foaf.rdf#jhendler">
       <foaf:name>Jim Hendler</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.dajobe.org/foaf.rdf#i">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:mailbox rdf:resource="mailto:dave@dajobe.org"/>
        <foaf:name>Dave Beckett</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~dt2/dlstuff/www2006_data#panel-panelk01">
        <s:label>The Next Wave of the Web (Plenary Panel)</s:label>
        <con:participant rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#i"/>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.isi.edu/~gil/foaf.rdf#me">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:name>Yolanda Gill</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.ivan-herman.net/foaf.rdf#me">
        <foaf:mbox_sha1sum>5ac8032d5f6012aa1775ea2f63e1676bafd5e80b</foaf:mbox_sha1sum>
        <foaf:mbox_sha1sum>c21b7ed00d78a35efcd8e567f8fd9cca71058c5</foaf:mbox_sha1sum>
        <foaf:mbox_sha1sum>eccd01ba8ce2391a439e9b052a9fbf37eae9f732</foaf:mbox_sha1sum>
        <foaf:name>Ivan Herman</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.kjetil.kjernsmo.net/foaf#me">
       <foaf:name>Kjetil Kjernsmo</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.lassila.org/ora.rdf#me">
       <foaf:name>Ora Lassila</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.mindswap.org/2004/owl/mindswappers#Bijan.Parsia">
       <foaf:name>Bijan Parsia</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.mindswap.org/2004/owl/mindswappers#Jennifer.Golbeck">
       <foaf:name>Jennifer Golbeck</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#amy">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <s:label>Amy van der Hiel</s:label>
        <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://people.w3.org/amy/foaf.rdf"/>
        <con:familyName>van der Hiel</con:familyName>
        <con:givenName>Amy</con:givenName>
        <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:amy@w3.org"/>
        <foaf:mbox_sha1sum>1839a1cc2e719a85ea7d9007f587b2899cd94064</foaf:mbox_sha1sum>
        <foaf:name>Amy van der Hiel</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#i">
        <foaf:img rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/Press/Stock/Berners-Lee/2001-europaeum-eighth.jpg"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://bblfish.net/people/henry/card#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://danbri.org/foaf#danbri"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dbpedia.org/resource/John_Gage"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dbpedia.org/resource/John_Klensin"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dbpedia.org/resource/John_Markoff"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dbpedia.org/resource/John_Seely_Brown"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dbpedia.org/resource/Tim_Bray"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2007/wiki/people/JoeLambda#JL"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2007/wiki/people/RobertHoffmann#RMH"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/webdav/timbl/foaf.rdf#cm"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/webdav/timbl/foaf.rdf#edd"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/webdav/timbl/foaf.rdf#libby"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/webdav/timbl/foaf.rdf#ss"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/People/RRS"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/People/yosi#YES"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://eikeon.com/foaf.rdf#eikeon"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://heddley.com/edd/foaf.rdf#edd"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://hometown.aol.com/chbussler/foaf/chbussler.foaf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://id.ecs.soton.ac.uk/person/1269"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://id.ecs.soton.ac.uk/person/1650"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://id.ecs.soton.ac.uk/person/2686"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://id.ecs.soton.ac.uk/person/60"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://inamidst.com/sbp/foaf#Sean"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://my.opera.com/chaals/xml/foaf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://my.opera.com/howcome/xml/foaf#howcome"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://myopenlink.net/dataspace/person/kidehen#this"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://norman.walsh.name/knows/who#norman-walsh"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://people.apache.org/~oshani/foaf.rdf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://people.csail.mit.edu/crowell/foaf.rdf#crowell"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://people.csail.mit.edu/lkagal/foaf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://people.csail.mit.edu/psz/foaf.rdf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://people.csail.mit.edu/ryanlee/about#ryanlee"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://people.w3.org/simon/foaf#i"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://presbrey.mit.edu/foaf.rdf#presbrey"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://qdos.com/people/tom.xrdf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://research.microsoft.com/~henrikn/foaf.xml#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://rit.mellon.org/Members/ihf/foaf.rdf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://teole.jfouffa.org/People/Teole/card.rdf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/mc/mcfoaf.rdf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://web.mit.edu/ruthdhan/www/foaf.rdf#ruthdhan"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://web.mit.edu/shinnyih/foaf.rdf#"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.aaronsw.com/about.xrdf#aaronsw"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.aaronsw.com/about.xrdf#aaronsw"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.cambridgesemantics.com/people/about/lee"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.cs.umd.edu/~hendler/2003/foaf.rdf#jhendler"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.dajobe.org/foaf.rdf#i"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.isi.edu/~gil/foaf.rdf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.ivan-herman.net/foaf.rdf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.kjetil.kjernsmo.net/foaf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.lassila.org/ora.rdf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.mindswap.org/2004/owl/mindswappers#Bijan.Parsia"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.mindswap.org/2004/owl/mindswappers#Jennifer.Golbeck"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#amy"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Connolly/#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/EM/contact#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs/contact.rdf#IanJacobs"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/djweitzner/foaf#DJW"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/karl/karl-foaf.xrdf#me"/>
        <foaf:knows rdf:parseType="Resource">
            <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
            <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://dannyayers.com/me.rdf"/>
            <foaf:mbox_sha1sum>669fe353dbef63d12ba11f69ace8acbec1ac8b17</foaf:mbox_sha1sum>
            <foaf:name>Danny Ayers</foaf:name>
        </foaf:knows>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/People/Connolly/#me">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Connolly/home-smart.rdf"/>
        <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:connolly@w3.org"/>
        <foaf:name>Dan Connolly</foaf:name>
        <foaf:nick>DanCon</foaf:nick>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/People/EM/contact#me">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/EM/contact"/>
        <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://purl.org/net/eric/"/>
        <foaf:img rdf:resource="http://www.ilrt.bristol.ac.uk/people/cmdjb/events/dc7/orig/eric.png"/>
        <foaf:img rdf:resource="http://www.oclc.org/~emiller/capture.jpg"/>
        <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:em@w3.org"/>
        <foaf:name>Eric Miller</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs/contact.rdf#IanJacobs">
       <foaf:name>Ian Jacobs</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/People/djweitzner/foaf#DJW">
        <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
        <foaf:mbox_sha1sum>032c319f439f63efba54f4fa51bfb3a3fafedfbe</foaf:mbox_sha1sum>
        <foaf:name>Daniel J Weitzner</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/People/karl/karl-foaf.xrdf#me">
        <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/karl/karl-foaf.xrdf"/>
        <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:karl@w3.org"/>
        <foaf:name>Karl Dubost</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/data#W3C">
        <s:label>W3C</s:label>
        <s:seeAlso rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/2002/01/tr-automation/tr.rdf"/>
        <con:publicHomePage rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/"/>
        <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/"/>
        <foaf:logo rdf:resource="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/Icons/w3c_home"/>
        <foaf:name>World Wide Web Consortium</foaf:name>
    </rdf:Description>
    <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/booksMeshup/books/006251587X">
        <dc:creator rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#i"/>
        <dc:title>Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web</dc:title>
    </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

Web Ontology Language (OWL) is like the standard spoken/read/written language in which we print the aforementioned Linked Open Data instruction booklet (i.e. English, French, German, Japanese, etc); it is like a language because it consists of a dictionary of nouns, verbs and adjectives describing things, and also a thesaurus of things that are really different words (terms) for describing the same or similar concepts. For example, we have described the data above using FOAF ontology, which at a high level can describe any of the following terms or relationships:

FOAF Core

• • Agent
  • Person
  • name
  • title
  • img
  • depiction (depicts)
  • familyName
  • givenName
  • knows
  • based_near
  • age
  • made (maker)
  • primaryTopic (primaryTopicOf)
• • Project
  • Organization
  • Group
  • member
• • Document
  • Image

Social Web

• nick
• mbox
• homepage
• weblog
• openid
• jabberID
• mbox_sha1sum
• interest
• topic_interest
• topic (page)
• workplaceHomepage
• workInfoHomepage
• schoolHomepage
• publications
• currentProject
• pastProject
• account
• OnlineAccount
• accountName
• accountServiceHomepage
• PersonalProfileDocument
• tipjar
• sha1
• thumbnail
• logo

Now that you see what OWL looks like at a high-level (in the FOAF Ontology summary listed above), lets see what it looks like when implemented in full as RDF.
WARNING: Once again, feel free to skip down to one of the next sections on SPARQL or Datasets.

Again, this is only shown for completeness sake and is not required to understand the Semantic Web concept, feel free to skip down to the next section about SPARQL or the last section about Datasets.

FOAF schema, an example of OWL in action (click below to expand):

<!-- This is the FOAF formal vocabulary description, expressed using W3C RDFS and OWL markup. foaf/spec version -->
<!-- For more information about FOAF:                                            -->
<!--   see the FOAF project homepage, http://www.foaf-project.org/               -->
<!--   FOAF specification, http://xmlns.com/foaf/spec/                             -->
<!--                                                                             -->
<!-- first we introduce a number of RDF namespaces we will be using... -->
<rdf:RDF 
	xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" 
	xmlns:rdfs="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#" 
	xmlns:owl="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#" 
	xmlns:vs="http://www.w3.org/2003/06/sw-vocab-status/ns#" 
	xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/" 
	xmlns:wot="http://xmlns.com/wot/0.1/" 
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<!-- Here we describe general characteristics of the FOAF vocabulary ('ontology'). -->
  <owl:Ontology rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/" dc:title="Friend of a Friend (FOAF) vocabulary" dc:description="The Friend of a Friend (FOAF) RDF vocabulary, described using W3C RDF Schema and the Web Ontology Language." >
  </owl:Ontology>


  <!-- OWL/RDF interop section - geeks only -->
  <!--  most folk can ignore this lot. the game here is to make FOAF
  	work with vanilla RDF/RDFS tools, and with the stricter OWL DL 
	profile of OWL. At the moment we're in the OWL Full flavour of OWL. 
	The following are tricks to try have the spec live in both worlds
	at once. See

http://phoebus.cs.man.ac.uk:9999/OWL/Validator


http://www.mindswap.org/2003/pellet/demo.shtml

	...for some tools that help. 					-->
  <owl:AnnotationProperty rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/wot/0.1/assurance"/>
  <owl:AnnotationProperty rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/wot/0.1/src_assurance"/>
  <owl:AnnotationProperty rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/2003/06/sw-vocab-status/ns#term_status"/>
  <!--  DC terms are NOT annotation properties in general, so we consider the following 
	claims scoped to this document. They may be removed in future revisions if
	OWL tools become more flexible. -->
  <owl:AnnotationProperty rdf:about="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/description"/>
  <owl:AnnotationProperty rdf:about="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/title"/>
  <owl:AnnotationProperty rdf:about="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/date"/>
  <owl:Class rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class"/>

<!--  <owl:Class rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Resource"/>
  <owl:Class rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/> -->
  <!-- end of OWL/RDF interop voodoo. mostly. -->

  <!-- utility class, a candidate for replacing the pattern of subproperty-ing rdfs:label -->
  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/LabelProperty" vs:term_status="unstable">
    <rdfs:label>Label Property</rdfs:label>
    <rdfs:comment>A foaf:LabelProperty is any RDF property with texual values that serve as labels.</rdfs:comment>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdfs:Class>

<!-- FOAF classes (types) are listed first. -->

  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person" rdfs:label="Person" rdfs:comment="A person." vs:term_status="stable">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
<!--    <rdfs:subClassOf><owl:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/wordnet/1.6/Person"/></rdfs:subClassOf> -->
    <rdfs:subClassOf><owl:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/></rdfs:subClassOf>
<!--    <rdfs:subClassOf><owl:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/wordnet/1.6/Agent"/></rdfs:subClassOf> -->
    <rdfs:subClassOf><owl:Class rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/2000/10/swap/pim/contact#Person" rdfs:label="Person"/></rdfs:subClassOf>
    <rdfs:subClassOf><owl:Class rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#SpatialThing" rdfs:label="Spatial Thing"/></rdfs:subClassOf>
    <!-- aside: 
	are spatial things always spatially located? 
	Person includes imaginary people... discuss... -->
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>

<!--    <owl:disjointWith rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/> this was a mistake; tattoo'd people, for example. -->

    <owl:disjointWith rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Organization"/>
    <owl:disjointWith rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Project"/>
  </rdfs:Class>
  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document" rdfs:label="Document" rdfs:comment="A document." vs:term_status="testing">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
<!--    <rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/wordnet/1.6/Document"/> -->
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <owl:disjointWith rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Organization"/>
    <owl:disjointWith rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Project"/>
  </rdfs:Class>
  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Organization" rdfs:label="Organization" rdfs:comment="An organization." vs:term_status="stable">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
<!--    <rdfs:subClassOf><owl:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/wordnet/1.6/Organization"/></rdfs:subClassOf> -->
    <rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <owl:disjointWith rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <owl:disjointWith rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
  </rdfs:Class>
  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Group" vs:term_status="stable" rdfs:label="Group" rdfs:comment="A class of Agents.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
    <rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
  </rdfs:Class>
  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent" vs:term_status="stable" rdfs:label="Agent" rdfs:comment="An agent (eg. person, group, software or physical artifact).">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
    <owl:equivalentClass rdf:resource="http://purl.org/dc/terms/Agent"/>
<!--    <rdfs:subClassOf><owl:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/wordnet/1.6/Agent-3"/></rdfs:subClassOf> -->
  </rdfs:Class>
  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Project" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="Project" rdfs:comment="A project (a collective endeavour of some kind).">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
<!--    <rdfs:subClassOf><owl:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/wordnet/1.6/Project"/></rdfs:subClassOf> -->
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <owl:disjointWith rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <owl:disjointWith rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
<!-- arguably a subclass of Agent; to be discussed -->
  </rdfs:Class>
  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Image" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="Image" rdfs:comment="An image.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
<!--    <rdfs:subClassOf><owl:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/wordnet/1.6/Document"/></rdfs:subClassOf> -->
    <rdfs:subClassOf><owl:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/></rdfs:subClassOf>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdfs:Class>

  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/PersonalProfileDocument" rdfs:label="PersonalProfileDocument" rdfs:comment="A personal profile RDF document." vs:term_status="testing">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
    <rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
  </rdfs:Class>
	
  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/OnlineAccount" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="Online Account" rdfs:comment="An online account.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing" rdfs:label="Thing"/>
  </rdfs:Class>
  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/OnlineGamingAccount" vs:term_status="unstable" rdfs:label="Online Gaming Account" rdfs:comment="An online gaming account.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
    <rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/OnlineAccount"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdfs:Class>
  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/OnlineEcommerceAccount" vs:term_status="unstable" rdfs:label="Online E-commerce Account" rdfs:comment="An online e-commerce account.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
    <rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/OnlineAccount"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdfs:Class>
  <rdfs:Class rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/OnlineChatAccount" vs:term_status="unstable" rdfs:label="Online Chat Account" rdfs:comment="An online chat account.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/>
    <rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/OnlineAccount"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdfs:Class>
<!-- FOAF properties (ie. relationships). -->
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/mbox" vs:term_status="stable" rdfs:label="personal mailbox" rdfs:comment="A 
personal mailbox, ie. an Internet mailbox associated with exactly one owner, the first owner of this mailbox. This is a 'static inverse functional property', in that  there is (across time and change) at most one individual that ever has any particular value for foaf:mbox.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/mbox_sha1sum" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="sha1sum of a personal mailbox URI name" rdfs:comment="The sha1sum of the URI of an Internet mailbox associated with exactly one owner, the  first owner of the mailbox.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>

<!--
put it back in again 2006-01-29 - see 

http://chatlogs.planetrdf.com/swig/2006-01-29.html#T21-12-35

I have mailed rdfweb-dev@vapours.rdfweb.org for discussion.
Libby

Commenting out as a kindness to OWL DL users. The semantics didn't quite cover
our usage anyway, since (a) we want static-across-time, which is so beyond OWL as 
to be from another planet (b) we want identity reasoning invariant across xml:lang 
tagging. FOAF code will know what to do. OWL folks note, this assertion might return. 

danbri
-->
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>

  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/gender" vs:term_status="testing" 
rdfs:label="gender" 
rdfs:comment="The gender of this Agent (typically but not necessarily 'male' or 'female').">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#FunctionalProperty"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <!-- whatever one's gender is, and we are liberal in leaving room for more options 
    than 'male' and 'female', we model this so that an agent has only one gender. -->
  </rdf:Property>



  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/geekcode" vs:term_status="archaic" rdfs:label="geekcode" rdfs:comment="A textual geekcode for this person, see http://www.geekcode.com/geek.html">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/dnaChecksum" vs:term_status="archaic" rdfs:label="DNA checksum" rdfs:comment="A checksum for the DNA of some thing. Joke.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/sha1" vs:term_status="unstable" rdfs:label="sha1sum (hex)" rdfs:comment="A sha1sum hash, in hex.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
<!-- rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty" -->
<!-- IFP under discussion -->
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/based_near" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="based near" rdfs:comment="A location that something is based near, for some broadly human notion of near.">
<!-- see http://esw.w3.org/topic/GeoOnion for extension  ideas -->
<!-- this was ranged as Agent... hmm -->
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#SpatialThing"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#SpatialThing"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
<!-- FOAF naming properties -->
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/title" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="title" rdfs:comment="Title (Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr. etc)">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/nick" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="nickname" rdfs:comment="A short informal nickname characterising an agent (includes login identifiers, IRC and other chat nicknames).">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
<!-- ......................... chat IDs ........................... -->
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/jabberID" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="jabber ID" rdfs:comment="A jabber ID for something.">
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
<!--
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/nick"/>
...different to the other IM IDs, as Jabber has wider usage, so 
we don't want the implied rdfs:domain here.

-->
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <!-- there is a case for using resources/URIs here, ... -->
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/aimChatID" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="AIM chat ID" rdfs:comment="An AIM chat ID">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/nick"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>
  </rdf:Property>

  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/skypeID" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="Skype ID" rdfs:comment="A Skype ID">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/nick"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <!-- todo: OWL2 easy key definition -->
  </rdf:Property>

<!-- http://www.stud.uni-karlsruhe.de/~uck4/ICQ/Packet-112.html -->
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/icqChatID" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="ICQ chat ID" rdfs:comment="An ICQ chat ID">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/nick"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/yahooChatID" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="Yahoo chat ID" rdfs:comment="A Yahoo chat ID">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/nick"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/msnChatID" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="MSN chat ID" rdfs:comment="An MSN chat ID">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/nick"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>
  </rdf:Property>
<!-- ....................................................... -->
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/name" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="name" rdfs:comment="A name for some thing.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/firstName" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="firstName" rdfs:comment="The first name of a person.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>

  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/lastName" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="lastName" rdfs:comment="The last name of a person.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>

  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/givenName" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="Given name" rdfs:comment="The given name of some person.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/givenname" vs:term_status="archaic" rdfs:label="Given name" rdfs:comment="The given name of some person.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/surname" vs:term_status="archaic" rdfs:label="Surname" rdfs:comment="The surname of some person.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/family_name" vs:term_status="archaic" rdfs:label="family_name" rdfs:comment="The family name of some person.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/familyName" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="familyName" rdfs:comment="The family name of some person.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
<!-- end of naming properties. See http://rdfweb.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=7
	   for open issue / re-design discussions.
	-->
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/phone" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="phone" rdfs:comment="A phone,  specified using fully qualified tel: URI scheme (refs: http://www.w3.org/Addressing/schemes.html#tel).">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/homepage" vs:term_status="stable" rdfs:label="homepage" rdfs:comment="A homepage for some thing.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/page"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/isPrimaryTopicOf"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>
    <!--  previously: rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent" -->
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/weblog" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="weblog" rdfs:comment="A weblog of some thing (whether person, group, company etc.).">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/page"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/openid" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="openid" rdfs:comment="An OpenID for an Agent.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/isPrimaryTopicOf"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/tipjar" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="tipjar" rdfs:comment="A tipjar document for this agent, describing means for payment and reward.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/page"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/plan" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="plan" rdfs:comment="A .plan comment, in the tradition of finger and '.plan' files.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/made" vs:term_status="stable" rdfs:label="made" rdfs:comment="Something that was made by this agent.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <owl:inverseOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/maker"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/maker"  vs:term_status="stable" rdfs:label="maker" rdfs:comment="An agent that 
made this thing.">
    <owl:equivalentProperty rdf:resource="http://purl.org/dc/terms/creator"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <owl:inverseOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/made"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/img" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="image" rdfs:comment="An image that can be used to represent some thing (ie. those depictions which are particularly representative of something, eg. one's photo on a homepage).">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Image"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/depiction"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/depiction" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="depiction" rdfs:comment="A depiction of some thing.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Image"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <owl:inverseOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/depicts"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/depicts" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="depicts" rdfs:comment="A thing depicted in this representation.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Image"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <owl:inverseOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/depiction"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/thumbnail" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="thumbnail" rdfs:comment="A derived thumbnail image.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Image"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Image"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/myersBriggs" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="myersBriggs" rdfs:comment="A Myers Briggs (MBTI) personality classification.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/workplaceHomepage" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="workplace homepage" rdfs:comment="A workplace homepage of some person; the homepage of an organization they work for.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/workInfoHomepage" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="work info homepage" rdfs:comment="A work info homepage of some person; a page about their work for some organization.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/schoolHomepage" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="schoolHomepage" rdfs:comment="A homepage of a school attended by the person.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/knows" vs:term_status="stable" rdfs:label="knows" rdfs:comment="A person known by this person (indicating some level of reciprocated interaction between the parties).">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/interest" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="interest" rdfs:comment="A page about a topic of interest to this person.">
<!-- we should distinguish the page from the topic more carefully. danbri 2002-07-08 -->
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/topic_interest" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="topic_interest" rdfs:comment="A thing of interest to this person.">
<!-- we should distinguish the page from the topic more carefully. danbri 2002-07-08 -->
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/publications" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="publications" rdfs:comment="A link to the publications of this person.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
<!-- by libby for ILRT mappings 2001-10-31 -->
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/currentProject" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="current project" rdfs:comment="A current project this person works on.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/pastProject" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="past project" rdfs:comment="A project this person has previously worked on.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Person"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/fundedBy" vs:term_status="archaic" rdfs:label="funded by" rdfs:comment="An organization funding a project or person.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/logo" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="logo" rdfs:comment="A logo representing some thing.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/topic" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="topic" rdfs:comment="A topic of some page or document.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <owl:inverseOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/page"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/primaryTopic"
 vs:term_status="stable" rdfs:label="primary topic" rdfs:comment="The primary topic of some page or document.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#FunctionalProperty"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <owl:inverseOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/isPrimaryTopicOf"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>

  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/focus"  vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="focus" rdfs:comment="The underlying or 'focal' entity associated with some SKOS-described concept.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#Concept" rdfs:label="Concept"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>

  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/isPrimaryTopicOf"
 vs:term_status="stable" rdfs:label="is primary topic of" rdfs:comment="A document that this thing is the primary topic of.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#InverseFunctionalProperty"/>
    <rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/page"/>
    <owl:inverseOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/primaryTopic"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>

  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/page" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="page" rdfs:comment="A page or document about this thing.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
    <owl:inverseOf rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/topic"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/theme" vs:term_status="archaic" rdfs:label="theme" rdfs:comment="A theme.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Thing"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/account" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="account" rdfs:comment="Indicates an account held by this agent.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/OnlineAccount"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/holdsAccount" vs:term_status="archaic" rdfs:label="account" rdfs:comment="Indicates an account held by this agent.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/OnlineAccount"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/accountServiceHomepage" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="account service homepage" rdfs:comment="Indicates a homepage of the service provide for this online account.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/OnlineAccount"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Document"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/accountName" vs:term_status="testing" rdfs:label="account name" rdfs:comment="Indicates the name (identifier) associated with this online account.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/OnlineAccount"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>
  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/member" vs:term_status="stable" rdfs:label="member" rdfs:comment="Indicates a member of a Group">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#ObjectProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Group"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>

  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/membershipClass" vs:term_status="unstable" rdfs:label="membershipClass" rdfs:comment="Indicates the class of individuals that are a member of a Group">
    <!-- maybe we should just use SPARQL or Rules, instead of trying to use OWL here -->
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#AnnotationProperty"/>
    <!-- Added to keep OWL DL from bluescreening. DON'T CROSS THE STREAMERS, etc. -->
    <!-- This may get dropped if it means non-DL tools don't expose it as a real property.
	 Should be fine though; I think only OWL stuff cares about AnnotationProperty.
	 Dan									 -->

<!--    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Group"/> prose only for now...-->
<!--    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class"/> -->
<!--    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#Class"/> -->

    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>


  <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/birthday" vs:term_status="unstable" rdfs:label="birthday" rdfs:comment="The birthday of this Agent, represented in mm-dd string form, eg. '12-31'.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#FunctionalProperty"/>
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
    <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
    <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
    <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
  </rdf:Property>

   <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/age" vs:term_status="unstable" rdfs:label="age" rdfs:comment="The age in years of some agent.">
    <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#FunctionalProperty"/>
     <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
     <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
     <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
     <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
   </rdf:Property>

   <rdf:Property rdf:about="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/status" vs:term_status="unstable" rdfs:label="status" rdfs:comment="A string expressing what the user is happy for the general public (normally) to know about their current activity.">
     <rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#DatatypeProperty"/>
     <rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/Agent"/>
     <rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
     <rdfs:isDefinedBy rdf:resource="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"/>
   </rdf:Property>

</rdf:RDF>

Ok, so that was just a little painful, even I’ll admit it. In summary, OWL adds all kinds of useful features on top of RDF for example mathematical relationships such as disjointness, equivalence, inheritance, transitivity, symmetry, inverse and more.

A word on SKOS
SKOS is a specific vocabulary for defining OWL ontologies that is worth mentioning because it can relate synonymous terms, much in the same way that a thesaurus relates words in a spoken language (i.e. to show is the same as to display). As a similar example, you can map SKOS to FOAF to specify the relationships between a person’s various accounts, profiles and groups across the whole web, not just their profile or data from a single website.

You can validate your use of SKOS as a vocabulary using the following useful tool:
http://demo.semantic-web.at:8080/SkosServices/check

SPARQL

SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language (SPARQL) is a data language for performing information retrieval and management tasks on the “web of data” that is the Semantic Web. It allows complex combinations of data to be made to discover things that were previously not possible or practical, for example “Find me the homepage of anyone that Tim Berners-Lee knows”. The corresponding SPARQL query looks like:

PREFIX foaf:  <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/>
PREFIX card: <http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/card#>
SELECT ?homepage
FROM <http://dig.csail.mit.edu/2008/webdav/timbl/foaf.rdf>
WHERE {
    card:i foaf:knows
?known .
    ?known foaf:homepage ?homepage .
}

SPARQL will return results in XML by default (but can also return the same results as JSON, HTML or Plain Text). The result looks as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<sparql xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/sparql-results#">
  <head>
    <variable name="homepage"/>
  </head>
  <results>
    <result>
      <binding name="homepage"><uri>http://purl.org/net/eric/</uri></binding>
    </result>
    <result>
      <binding name="homepage"><uri>http://www.mellon.org/about_foundation/staff/program-area-staff/irafuchs</uri></binding>
    </result>
    <result>
      <binding name="homepage"><uri>http://heddley.com/edd/</uri></binding>
    </result>
    <result>
      <binding name="homepage"><uri>http://www.johnseelybrown.com/</uri></binding>
    </result>
  </results>
</sparql>

We then need to transform the result to something human-readable, using either a high-level language (like Java, PHP, JavaScript, C#, etc) or even simpler, a transformation language that is built-in to most browesrs, yes good old eXtensible StyleSheet Language (XSL) which I’ve written a tutorial on before.

XSLT script to format SPARQL Query Results XML Format into xHTML (click below to expand):

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!--

Copyright © 2004, 2005 World Wide Web Consortium, (Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, European Research Consortium for
Informatics and Mathematics, Keio University). All Rights
Reserved. This work is distributed under the W3C® Software
License [1] in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

[1] http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/2002/copyright-software-20021231

Version 1 : Dave Beckett (DAWG)
Version 2 : Jeen Broekstra (DAWG)
Customization for SPARQler: Andy Seaborne
Fix:

> -    <xsl:for-each select="//res:head/res:variable">
> +    <xsl:for-each select="/res:sparql/res:head/res:variable">

-->

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
		xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
		xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
		xmlns:res="http://www.w3.org/2005/sparql-results#"
		exclude-result-prefixes="res xsl">

  <!--
    <xsl:output
    method="html"
    media-type="text/html"
    doctype-public="-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
    indent="yes"
    encoding="UTF-8"/>
  -->

  <!-- or this? -->

  <xsl:output
   method="xml" 
   indent="yes"
   encoding="UTF-8" 
   doctype-public="-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
   doctype-system="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"
   omit-xml-declaration="no" />


  <xsl:template name="header">
    <div>
      <h2>Header</h2>
      <xsl:for-each select="res:head/res:link"> 
	<p>Link to <xsl:value-of select="@href"/></p>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </div>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template name="boolean-result">
    <div>
      <!--      
	<h2>Boolean Result</h2>
      -->      
      <p>ASK => <xsl:value-of select="res:boolean"/></p>
    </div>
  </xsl:template>


  <xsl:template name="vb-result">
    <div>
      <!--
	<h2>Variable Bindings Result</h2>
	<p>Ordered: <xsl:value-of select="res:results/@ordered"/></p>
	<p>Distinct: <xsl:value-of select="res:results/@distinct"/></p>
      -->

      <table>
	<xsl:text>
	</xsl:text>
	<tr>
	  <xsl:for-each select="res:head/res:variable">
	    <th><xsl:value-of select="@name"/></th>
	  </xsl:for-each>
	</tr>
	<xsl:text>
	</xsl:text>
	<xsl:for-each select="res:results/res:result">
	  <tr>
	    <xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
	  </tr>
	</xsl:for-each>
      </table>
    </div>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="res:result">
    <xsl:variable name="current" select="."/>
    <xsl:for-each select="/res:sparql/res:head/res:variable">
      <xsl:variable name="name" select="@name"/>
      <td>
	<xsl:choose>
	  <xsl:when test="$current/res:binding[@name=$name]">
	    <!-- apply template for the correct value type (bnode, uri, literal) -->
	    <xsl:apply-templates select="$current/res:binding[@name=$name]"/>
	  </xsl:when>
	  <xsl:otherwise>
	    <!-- no binding available for this variable in this solution -->
	  </xsl:otherwise>
	</xsl:choose>
      </td>
    </xsl:for-each>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="res:bnode">
    <xsl:text>_:</xsl:text>
    <xsl:value-of select="text()"/>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="res:uri">
    <xsl:variable name="uri" select="text()"/>
    <xsl:text><</xsl:text>
    <xsl:value-of select="$uri"/>
    <xsl:text>></xsl:text>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="res:literal">
    <xsl:text>"</xsl:text>
    <xsl:value-of select="text()"/>
    <xsl:text>"</xsl:text>

    <xsl:choose>
      <xsl:when test="@datatype">
	<!-- datatyped literal value -->
	^^<<xsl:value-of select="@datatype"/>>
      </xsl:when>
      <xsl:when test="@xml:lang">
	<!-- lang-string -->
	@<xsl:value-of select="@xml:lang"/>
      </xsl:when>
    </xsl:choose>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="res:sparql">
    <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
      <head>
	<title>SPARQLer Query Results</title>
	<style>
	  <![CDATA[
	  h1 { font-size: 150% ; }
	  h2 { font-size: 125% ; }
	  table { border-collapse: collapse ; border: 1px solid black ; }
	  td, th
 	  { border: 1px solid black ;
	    padding-left:0.5em; padding-right: 0.5em; 
	    padding-top:0.2ex ; padding-bottom:0.2ex 
	  }
	  ]]>
	</style>
      </head>
      <body>


	<h1>SPARQLer Query Results</h1>

	<xsl:if test="res:head/res:link">
	  <xsl:call-template name="header"/>
	</xsl:if>

	<xsl:choose>
	  <xsl:when test="res:boolean">
	    <xsl:call-template name="boolean-result" />
	  </xsl:when>

	  <xsl:when test="res:results">
	    <xsl:call-template name="vb-result" />
	  </xsl:when>

	</xsl:choose>


      </body>
    </html>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Then we finally get an HTML page output that the end user can actually interact with in their browser:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
    <title>SPARQL Query Results to XHTML (XSLT)</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>SPARQL Query Results to XHTML (XSLT)</h1>
    <div>
      <h2>Variable Bindings Result</h2>
      <table border="1">
	<tr><th>homepage</th></tr>
	<tr><td>URI http://www.mellon.org/about_foundation/staff/program-area-staff/irafuchs</td></tr><tr><td>URI http://heddley.com/edd/</td></tr><tr><td>URI http://www.johnseelybrown.com/</td></tr><tr><td>URI http://purl.org/net/eric/</td></tr></table>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

Which the user of course finally sees as:

Pffewf, that took a while, but if you’re still with me congratulations! I wanted to cover all the main technologies involed in the so-called “Semantic Web stack” without alienating readers (not an easy task).

Datasets
Let’s summarize what we know at this point:

1. HOW to structure our data (as an RDF building block)
2. WHERE to look for models (OWL instructions)
3. WHAT to do to combine our creations (using SPARQL glue to patch built models together in interesting new ways)

From the very introduction of the article, we also learned:

1. WHO founded the web (and the vision for a more Semantic version of it)
2. WHY the web became so popular (and how that popularity makes the Semantic Web all the more important to help people from drowning in a sea of data, choices and networks)

So what are we missing?

1. HOW do we start building the Semantic Web today?

The answer is: we already are; by following the tenets of the Linked Open Data movement we are indeed slowly but surely building the Semantic Web envisioned by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. The best way we can continue to build the Semantic Web going forward is to utilize the technologies mentioned above, and whenever possible, to share or link some unique dataset that was not yet linked in the current Linked Data cloud.

You’ll have to hurry up though, the opportunity to become an expert or curator in any given dataset is starting to pass you by, don’t let your business get left out in the cold. Here is the growth of the Linked Data Cloud (and thus the Semantic Web) over the past 5 years, from 2007 through until 2012 (but not yet including the latest data from 2012):

I think you get my point. The Semantic Web is no longer just some fringe research activity for academics and tech geeks, this is a fundamental revolution in business, software and information sharing and transparency across every industry.

Conclusion

The Semantic Web is something that we should be able to sell to our bosses, managers, budgeting departments, marketing and legal teams or else we may live to regret it as our companies get left behind by more agile and innovative firms who’ve done the research and work the major enterprises have been unwilling to do in the past. At this point, SW and LOD may never be relegated to the world of academia and basement hackers again (just like the story of Aladdin not being able to put the genie back in the bottle, we’re now past the point of no return).

Luckily though, there has never been as good a time to start working on or incorporating Semantic Web technologies into your products and services, as more useful resources and increasingly mature tools emerge for simplifying the complexities of a large web software stack which is at its core, actually, quite a simple concept: share and share-alike.

REFERENCES:

http://www.labnol.org/internet/web-3-concepts-explained/8908/

http://tomheath.com/blog/2009/03/linked-data-web-of-data-semantic-web-wtf/

http://infomesh.net/2001/swintro/

http://www.ftrain.com/google_takes_all.html

http://semanticweb.com/the-best-introductions-to-the-semantic-web_b643

http://www.cambridgesemantics.com/semantic-university/sparql-by-example

Related Articles

• Has Google hi-jacked the Semantic Web?(semantic-web.at)

  ---

• How we ingested 100M semantic documents in a day (And where do they come from)(sindice.com)

  ---

• Semantic (Social) Sensor Networks(slideshare.net)

  ---

• Twitter, the new kid on the Semantic Web block(semanticweb.com)

  ---

• ‘Enterprises Need the Semantic Web’(semanticweb.com)

  ---

• Selling RDF to Big Data(snee.com)

  ---

SkipSearch logo

The ALPHA version of SkipSearch has been released!!!

SkipSearch is a proprietary front-end to OpenRecommender, an open source recommendation engine. Its primary features include:

• Easy-to-use Interface with hover-intent to reduce clicks, audio controls & shortcuts
• Lightweight HTML5 / CSS3 layout
• Mobile-friendly, responsive design
• Schema.org properties and support for RDFa/Microformats
• Import data from multiple accounts (Google/Yahoo/Microsoft/Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIN/Last.FM/StumbleUpon and other social media account integration)
• Export functionality based on open formats (RSS, ATOM, OPML, XSPF, FOAF)
• OpenID authentication
• OAuth authorization

Use-Cases

At this point, SkipSearch would appeal to anyone who is:

1. Trying to find something on Google but just not getting the results they need. (i.e. where should I go on vacation? or which one of my friends like X?)
2. In need of an app with the ability to Import profile and friend data from Facebook or another Social Network, so that its backed up forever
3. An early-adopter looking to try out the latest (and hopefully greatest) in web technologies

In the future though, the goal is that it will have a much broader appeal to just about every web user as a viable alternative to both the established Search Engines and Social Networking Services, as a great way to share information in an open, transparent but yet totally controllable and private (if you want it) manner.

Business Model

There are two proposed ways of using SkipSearch:

• Free: Ad-supported (features limited)
• Subscription: $1.00/yr. ad-free (unlimited)
  

For one dollar (USD) per year, you get access to all the features of SkipSearch. You can still use the service for free, but you won’t be able to import, backup, export and personalize your experience based on your data from other social networks.

In a lot of ways, the release of SkipSearch represents the next generation of BC$ MobileTV. Hopefully you’ll check out the site regularly, whether that’s for free or as a paid user!

Here’s an opposite take on the excellent “11 ways to be unremarkably average” comic by Gavin Aung Than (aka ZenPencils), which was itself inspired by and borrows from a quote by Chris Guillebeau. The funny thing is, if you reverse these warnings and follow the opposite of the steps outlined in that Guillebeau quote, hidden within is perhaps the secret to true happiness or in the very least a guideline on how to live a unique and truly free lifestyle.

Without further adieu, we give you “11 Ways To Be Remarkably Exceptional”:

“11 Ways To Be Remarkably Exceptional” (Modified from original work by: zenpencils)

Whether you’re a graphic artist yourself, or just an office worker in search for more meaning in your life and realizing your full potential, we’d highly recommend you check out his other works for some inspiration.

Related Articles

• How do you settle on an idea to pursue?
• In company of visionary friends: Chris Guillebeau
• taming the gremlins
• If you could go anywhere in the world, where would that be?
• I’m grateful to be overwhelmed.

Example of residential network including VoIP (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Like most Canadians, I have paid way more than I care to admit to the greedy Telcos over the past several years. My estimates put my average monthly bill for two smartphone plans and a home telephone line with an international long-distance plan at approximately $175/month (some months higher, some months lower, but that’s the average). Carry that cost over 12 months per year and about 5 years since I’ve been back in Canada and at the mercy of the Telcos, and you’ve got a scary picture. Add in Internet, TV and Movie services (i.e. Netflix) and what you’ve got is blatant wastage and inefficiency, something I intend to put an end to now that my major smartphone plan’s 3-year contract is coming to an end.

Feel free to jump straight to my problem and my proposed solution right now, but I’ll lay out some background on my particular situation, and what lead me to this current fleecing and desparation to find an alternative.

Mobile
At first I ended up with three separate carriers, which is almost never the cheapest way of doing things, but almost always the way a typical household ends up. As families grow, couples may have had separate services, and its not always easy or even possible to package, bundle or combine services due to prior contracts. It’s easy to blame the greedy Telcos, but at least some of the responsibility for this situation rests on my shoulders as a result of laziness or simple lack of time and energy to do anything about it sooner and/or do more research into all the possible alternatives.

Being incredibly busy but needing to fill an immediate need for services to get my wife a phone since I had no home phone line, before I had much chance to figure out how badly I’d be getting screwed, I had myself signed on to two 3-year contracts with two separate carriers.

Later, I needed to add a second smartphone plan, mostly because I had to get a Mobile phone plan for my wife before she was actually a permanent resident, and at the time there was a “special offer” on at Rogers that would have made it cheaper than adding a second line to my existing Bell-Aliant account. What I didn’t know was that despite it being cheaper, Rogers tends to hike their rates more later on down the line. Live and learn I suppose.

I’ve considered something like a Mobile 4G hotspot, but the thought of carrying it with me everywhere and being dependent on a spotty service that’s still being rolled out does not really appeal to me very much. That said, here’s what I found were my options:

• Telus 4G LTE stick; 6GB/month @ $60/month 
• Bell-Aliant 4G LTE hotspot; 5GB/month @ $68/month
• Rogers 4G rocketstick; 5GB/month @ $72/month

I’m going to hold out until the New Year for a better deal, and if the prices go up, then no big deal, I’ll just go without a mobile data plan.

TV

A special bundling plan came out at Bell-Aliant when they rolled out FibreOp ne of the carriers, I switched my home phone, TV and Internet all into one package. Luckily, I was moving to a region where the original carrier Rogers had no service, so they were forced to let me out of my TV contract with no additional cancellation fees.
Bell-Aliant’s FibreOp to Rogers’s Digital Cable. I’m now debating whether I want to rely on certain online and mobile services, or, whether I want to spring for $36/month for Bell’s sattelite TV service (which I’ve heard mixed reviews about).

Phone
Who has a home phone anymore? Let me rephrase that, who wants to pay for a home phone plan anymore when there are so many other free or low-cost VoIP alternatives available?
For that reason, I expect I’ll get rid of my home phone for good.

Internet
I’ve gone through all the major providers, from Bell and Rogers to Eastlink in Nova Scotia. Since I had a bad experience with Rogers in 2008 with bandwidth capping and throttling, I’m convinced that FibreOp is sadly the only logical choice, unless you are in Nova Scotia, in which case I’d save money and go with Eastlink. If you are on the lower service level of FibreOp anyway, the speeds are not that significantly different so as to be noticeable to a “normal internet user” (that is, anyone who’s not constantly running P2P clients to pull down TB’s worth of software/, or someone not doing any hardcore online gaming). As far as over-promised and under-delivered services go though, I will admit that FibreOp definitely takes the cake, so its not necessarily much of a win.

Movies
Lastly, about Netflix Canada, their content leaves a lot to be desired with a severely limited catalogue compared to what is available in the US. For this reason, I’m also considering stopping their service again soon; I’ll likely just freeze my account and check it out again in a few months. One thing I can credit them for is the up to 6-month account freezing feature, which is a welcome service that Canadian Telcos could learn a lot from. Especially because it makes much more sense to be a customer of theirs when I know I’ll have free time coming up in a given month. The ability to freeze and unfreeze my account, rather than deleting it and starting over from scratch every time (i.e. losing viewing history, queues and ratings) is a huge asset, and if that feature went away I think I could safely say I would cease being a customer of theirs ever again.

VoIP

Spout is a new company founded by former Link2VoIP employees. I’m evaluating picking up a Cloud Number & DID from them and using their service via a VoIP softphone app (i.e. BRIA for iOS or CSIPsimple for Android). One of the better-known ways of doing the VoIP cord-cut is by using another Canadian startup called LES, along with a SkypeIN and/or SkypeOUT unlimited calling.

I did some quick and dirty calculations in the comments section there, but I’ll update to show my latest calculations for a year’s worth of VoIP service from the top 3 options I found:

1. SkypeIN + SkypeOUT + LES forwarding*
SkypeIN #: $60/yr
SkypeOUT unlimited calling: $7.99/month = $95.88/yr
SMS – FREE (available via web portal only)
LES – Unmetered DID: $1.99 (one-time setup fee)
LES – DID monthly fee: $8.88/month = $106.56
TOTAL = $264.40

2. Spout Cloud + DID + VoIP softphone**
Spout – Local Number Porting $30.00 (one-time fee)
Spout – Fixed-rate DID: $7.00 (one-time setup fee)
Spout – DID monthly fee: $9.99/month = $119.88
SMS – not supported
VoIP softphone app: $8.99 (or FREE depending on app)
TOTAL = $165.87

3. Anveo DID + VoIP softphone***
Anveo – Local DID port: FREE (special promotion, usually $14 one-time setup fee)
Anveo – Personal Unlimited Calling monthly fee: $2.00/month
Anveo SMS-to-Email: $3.00/month (300 @ $0.01/msg; personal usage estimate)
Anveo STARTER plan: $7.85/month (FREE option as well w. fewer IVR features)
VoIP softphone app: FREE (depending on app)
TOTAL = $154.20

—————
* Skype is priced in US dollars. If you want World ($13.99/month) or World+China ($21.99) unlimited calling in Skype, additional fees apply.

** Spout (a Canadian company) is priced in Canadian dollars. Spout would meet the CRTC’s e-911 requirements but the LES+Skype would may not, without additional service fees / features added. Spout also has a nifty feature called “Callback” which works like a calling card where you call their number first which then calls you back and prompts you to enter the actual number you want to call (billed as an incoming call this way, and connected for a flat-rate 1.1 cents per minute). The Callback feature could be used from other phone lines to save on long-distance calls.

*** Anveo (a UK company) is priced in US dollars. Not only does Anveo meet the CRTC’s e-911 requirements but it also offers SMS services (via web console, email-to-SMS or directly via push messages in supporting VoIP clients) which was the deal sealer for me personally, because as much as I try to minimize my monthly texting, I can admit it is an important tool for staying in touch with friends and family; especially while traveling as it is cheaper than the astronomical roaming fees you’d stand to incur if you actually made a call out of your “home region” on a regular cell phone plan. On top of all this, Anveo is actually a full-blown hosted IVR solution with call-flows, call-waiting, hold music, visual voicemail, virtual FAX machine & Email-to-Fax, click-to-call web button/widget, a comprehensive API, and lots of other fun features to play with!

So both Anveo and Spout sound good to me in theory, even LES + Skype would be good but I’ve heard too many complaints about call quality to take the plunge there at this time. Either way, you need a SIP softphone (piece of software that runs on your computer or device) to use either Spout or Anveo. Depending on the app you choose, you may have to add to your total; I used the $7.99 BRIA for iPhone app but got it for free thanks to an old iTunes gift card I had laying around. With Spout being very close to offering all the things I was looking for (except SMS), it was tough because I prefer to support Canadian first in most cases, but at the same time Anveo was the only provider with SMS support and free trials available, also I couldn’t pass up on the limited-time free Anveo LNP offer (seems like it was made to be as the free offer allowed me to setup the LNP request with my carrier for EXACTLY the day my contract with them expired, which in theory means I shouldn’t get blacked out as my number gets ported). So, I’ve taken the plunge into the wonderful world of VoIP in Canada with a non-Canadian provider, Anveo, and I’m just wondering if any readers have any experience or insights to share on the quality or long-term usage of their (or other competitors’) service. If so please comment below. Either way, I’m sure both solutions beat the alternatives in Canada, just see for yourself…

Rogers
MOBILE: Rogers voice + data or FIDO (aka Rogers)
PHONE: Rogers long distance
INTERNET: Hi-Speed
TV: Digital Cable

Bell-Aliant
MOBILE: Bell voice + data
PHONE: Aliant (aka Bell-Aliant) long distance
INTERNET: FibreOp or Hi-Speed
TV: FibreOp or Satellite

Telus
MOBILE: Telus voice + data or KOODO (aka Telus)
PHONE: Telus long distance plans
INTERNET: Optik or Hi-Speed
TV: Optik or Sattelite

And that brings me to the heart of the problem, none of the mainstream providers offers an affordable bundle for all my telecommunications needs (i.e.  Phone, Mobile, Internet, TV, Movies).

My Problem

The acceptance of unreasonably high prices and usage fees by our continued business is what perpetuates the unfavorable condition for telecommunications consumers in Canada. In short, we vote with our dollars and I fully acknowledge that like most Canadians, I’ve been asleep at the wheel and let the Telcos run amok on my wallet and monthly budget, simply because I felt there was “nothing I could do”.

Home Phone: Bell-Aliant, unlimited long-distance bundle  @  $45/month
Mobile (wife): Rogers, BlackBerry smartphone plan  @  $65/month
Mobile (me): Bell-Aliant, iPhone smartphone plan @ $87/month

Internet: Bell-Aliant FibreOp 20/15 Mbps   @  $68.95/month
TV: Bell-Aliant FibreOp, 300 channels  @  $42/month
Movies: Netflix  @  $7.99/month

TOTAL:  $315.94/month (that’s an insane $3791.28 per year)

Yikes! I can definitely do better, less really is more in this case.

My Solution (for now)

First things first, I need to cut out waste from my monthly budget and minimize long-term contracts, with the ultimate goal of getting out of all forms of service contracts, forever. If government won’t protect consumers from predatory pricing practices and unreasonably long-term contracts with crazy “early cancellation fees”, then its up to consumers to get proactive and protect themselves by avoiding doing business with these companies whenever possible.

Home Phone: VoIP via Anveo, unlimited international long-distance & $0.01/msg SMS @ $13.65/month
Mobile (wife): Rogers $36/month single smartphone plan (to be used for local/emergency calling only)
Mobile (me): none  @  $0/month (worst-case, spring for 4G wifi hotspot @ $60/month)

Internet: Bell-Aliant FibreOp 20/15Mbps  @ $68.95/month
TV: none  @ $0/month  (worst-case, get Bell-Aliant Sattelite 150 channels @ $30/month)
Movies: none  @  $0/month (worst-case, unfreeze Netflix @ $7.99/month)

TOTAL:  $118.60/month (worst-case: $218 or $1423-$2616 per year)

For a maximum total savings (with a little sacrifice of convenience of always-on internet everywhere I go), of almost $200/month which would equate to $2400 or approximately $7200 over the course of a typical 3-year contract; I shudder to think where I’d be if I had of taken the bait and gone for the “free handset upgrade” for my iPhone 3GS to something like an iPhone 5 or the latest Android device. This will be a huge benefit for our household as we recently purchased a house and are paying down several costs associated with that (such as downpayment, rennovations and required maintenance) over the next year or so. I’m happy to make the sacrifice and will update later to let everyone know how it went.

Conclusion

I consider home internet a sunk cost, and the home I was moving into was already wired for FibreOp, so it was basically a no-brainer. That said, I’ve noticed they are slowly increasing the rates just like they do with any new service. I’ll keep my eye on this trend and look for cheaper alternatives if necessary. I have alot of interest in the Dark Net these days as well, and if they drive the prices too high or make any further assaults on user privacy or net neutrality, then I will definitely put in the time required to “be my own ISP” as well. In addition, I would love to have a regular TV service but they make it hard by forcing me to buy 100′s or 1000′s of Channels when I really only want a dozen at most (i.e. CBC, Global, CTV, TSN, YTV, Treehouse, Comedy, TeleToon Retro, Spike, Discovery, History, AMC). When will a company come along and offer better a-la-carte style billing, or just any bundling system that actually makes sense and allows viewers to select individual channels they want and not have to pay for stuff they consider crap and will never view.

In the meantime, it feels good to at least be a step closer to independence from the Telcos and I applaud the efforts of innovative little VoIP startups like Anveo, Spout, LES, Skype, iCall and others. Even Microsoft’s latest prize, Skype, is also a better-looking alternative than one of the big Telcos’ offerings and would definitely be even more user friendly to work with for someone without the time or technological know-how to use one of the other less smooth around the edges VoIP services. For simplicity’s sake, I strongly considered Skype + 4G Hotspot on a laptop (or tablet) as my substitute since I had used Skype to shave up to $80/month off my cellphone bill when I was in Japan, and I bet that would work pretty good too (but cost a little more than cutting the contracts completely).

In the worst case, I may still end up with a 4G Hotspot but I’m hoping I can avoid it. Best of luck in your efforts to reduce your monthly bills and cut the cords from the big 3, its time they wake up to consumer demand and start offering realistic prices, or eventually, lean innovative startups like the ones mentioned here will gladly take the exodus of customers as times get tough financially and sacrifices need to be made by the average consumer.

Related Articles

• Skype 2.0 for iPhone: Is it worth subscribing for 3G VoIP calls?
• Why VOIP Is A Beneficial Business Decision
• Rogers launching the “One Number Telephone Adapter,” gives customers VoIP calling
• Vodafone Plans Daylight Robbery Over FaceTime and VoIP
• GetVoIP.com Offers Complete VoIP Guidance
• Smartphone users move to VoIP

BCmoney Actions

It is with great humility and gratitude that I announce that I have finished in the Top 10 of the Mintchip Challenge with my proposed application and idea that “A digital currency can be used for P2P barter and micropayments“.

You can see the full list of finalists in the Mintchip Challenge here:
http://ideas.mintchipchallenge.com/

There were really some phenomenal entries into the contest and this has to have been one of the most well-received and highly active (by sheer number of participants/voters) campaigns of all the ChallengePost software development-related contests so far. Congratulations to all the competitors, it was an honour to be amongst such talent. While I didn’t earn one of the big money prizes for my app (you can see the teams and applications who were winners of the demonstration side of the contest here) I do feel honoured and appreciative of the Top 10 finish for the idea itself. I would like to thoroughly thank everyone for their ongoing support, and let you know that this gives me the positive encouragement I needed not to give up on my idea of creating a fairer, more efficient and transparent money system, built on the idea that one deserves to enjoy the fruits of their labour however they wish and not have the income generated from their hard work just handed out to greedy corporations via questionable transaction fees, high interest payments or uncalled for service fees.

When I started this experiment called “BCmoney MobileTV”, I had the seed of an idea in my head, that today:

• we can do a better job at distributing the world’s essential resources (food, water, energy for heat/lights, etc)
• we can valuate people’s contributions to society a lot better than we currently are
• we (at least in North America, but really worldwide) spend alot of our time on activities that benefit other people or organizations (sometimes without even knowing it)

With this post, I am also taking the time to announce the development of a new Web Service, to be known only as “BC$”, and henceforth, the existing BCmoney MobileTV site will serve as the testbed for it. The Web Service will be a simple, lightweight tool to passively track creation and consumption habits online. This will be different from existing tracking tools in that it will absolutely respect “Do Not Track” requests and immediately stop tracking individuals on request (i.e. whether that is just temporarily or permanently).

Readers should know that the fact that BitCoin was such a popular entry into the Mintchip Challenge did not go unnoticed. A major aspect of this proposed new monetary system will be the decentralization of issuing power. In fact, it is likely that the entire system will be built on top of BitCoin, however the one thing I’d like to remove from the BitCoin architecture is the “commoditization” of BitCoin farming, where it can start to become more profitable to generate via an organized “farm” or group of servers, than it can be to generate BitCoins alone. I strongly feel this is the last major hurdle on the software side (other than the hardware and logistics problems preventing a large number of vendors accepting BitCoin for purchases, or, failing that an easy to use piece of hardware that can be used at “Point-of-Sale” in stores to make a purchase as quickly as you can with a debit card today).

Here is an early mock-up of the interface:

That’s how it will look on the desktop, but what about mobile? The mobile user-interface will look roughly as follows:

(These mockups were done using the excellent MockupBuilder web-based RAD tool for quickly hashing out user interface components with a drag/drop editing tool).

If you want to signup for the BETA trial, you will be able to do so at the following link:

http://www.bcmoney.NET

Related Articles

• Canada To Launch Digital Currency
• MintChip Digital Currency – It’s Not About Ice Cream!
• MintChip: ‘The Evolution of Currency’
• Voting Begins For Canadian Digital Currency App
• Royal Canadian Mint to announce the winner of the MintChip Challenge today
• MintChip’s Barbara Streisand Moment

Java (programming language) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Java programming language is one of the most widely used and widely supported programming languages in the world (in terms of total number of devices and systems running it). Since its inception, it has also been the subject of several major lawsuits (i.e. Oracle .vs. Google, Google .vs. Oracle countersuit,  US Gov .vs. Microsoft, Apple .vs. Android OEMs – Samsung, Motorola, HTC and  Sun .vs. Microsoft) due in no small part thanks to its aforementioned widespread use in just about every major device from mobile phones to back-end server infrastructure and from individual desktops/laptops to large-scale distributed computing grids (like Amazon’s AWS & EC2).

Java didn’t set out to be a better C for every programmer, and in fact had an identity crisis early in its life. It started out in 1991 as a language called “Oak”, part of a small project called the “Green Team” initiated by Patrick Naughton, Mike Sheridan, and James Gosling, who is primarily credited with the design of the language that became Java. (Bryan Youmans has a page on the history of Java, with some interesting thoughts on the language design. There’s also an official version of the history from Sun/Oracle.)

Why do we need Java?

While I won’t give a detailed look at how the hardware or operating systems work, I will try to simplify (at the risk of over-simplifying) how computers work so that you can understand at a basic level what’s going on inside. Computers are interconnected chips with specialized purposes (i.e. CPU, GPU, RAM, ROM, Network adapters, Peripherals, etc), so they can’t speak a human language like you and me. Instead, computers need to receive really basic instructions such as “add: 1 + 2″, “read: MemoryA” or “connect: a to b”. This low-level language is commonly referred to as an Assembly language. To do all the complex things we expect computers to do today, such as high-volume stock trading or financial transactions, playing music or streaming videos, or even just posting text comments on a blog, message board or social network whose servers are in a different country from you, half way around the world and having that instantly visible to other people, we would need to write an impossibly large amount of this “low-level” Assembly code to deal with every possible use-case. Instead, researchers devised ways to program at a higher level (so called high-level programming languages), whose more human-readable structure is then compiled and/or interpreted into low-level code instructions for the various hardware and operating systems on which it is run. This is where the need for Java emerged. It was difficult, time-consuming, resource-intensive and thus costly to create these compilers and interpreters fr each and every new computing device that came out. When there is a cost-based incentive to create a more efficient and portable method of compiling and running code, you can rest assured that the industry will innovate, enter Java and its promises of portability.

Portability

“Write Once, Run Anywhere” is the motto for the Java programming language. In order to accomplish this primary design goal, the first implementations of Java used an interpreted virtual machine. These implementations produced programs that ran more slowly than programs compiled to native executables, for instance written in C or C++, so the language suffered a reputation for poor performance as a trade-off for portability. More recent JVM implementations produce programs that run significantly faster than before, using multiple techniques.

The first technique is to simply compile directly into native code like a more traditional compiler, skipping bytecodes entirely. This achieves good performance, but at the expense of portability. Another technique, known as just-in-time compilation (JIT), translates the Java bytecodes into native code at the time that the program is run which results in a program that executes faster than interpreted code but also incurs compilation overhead during execution. More sophisticated VMs use dynamic recompilation, in which the VM can analyze the behavior of the running program and selectively recompile and optimize critical parts of the program. Dynamic recompilation can achieve optimizations superior to static compilation because the dynamic compiler can base optimizations on knowledge about the runtime environment and the set of loaded classes. JIT compilation and dynamic recompilation allow Java programs to take advantage of the speed of native code without losing portability.^[7]

Learning the Java Language

Having been forced to learn at least basic proficiency in over 30 computer languages in the span of 12 years since I took my first computer science courses, I know firsthand that learning any new language or platform can be a daunting task. At first, you feel very inferior or at least somehow limited by your lack of knowledge. The many terms, keywords and unique styles of coding can make code you’ve seen for the first time look like a totally complex and indecipherable alien language. For this reason, I will take it from the top, introducing the reader to the very basics of the Java programming language. At the same time, I will also show some practical examples (because hey, let’s admit what’s on everyone’s mind, the usual “Hello World” nonsense gets old real quick). On that point I do think the main reason other than “frustration over complexity” that causes people to give up on learning a language is the “inabilty to acquire a proficient status in the language quickly enough to create things”. Creating things maintains your interest, and the quicker you work with easy but practical and fun examples, the sooner you can feel confident enough to start writing your own code.

There will likely be some initial hurdles to overcome in understanding the way to lay out a program in Java, as well as the various design patterns of Object-Oriented Programming in general. “Object-oriented” is a fancy way of saying that you break up code into separate groupings (objects), which makes the code more manageable and reusable. A “class” is a file formatted in Java and having the extension “.java”. Classes are Java’s way of putting an “object” into code that the computer can compile into something called “bytecode” which is a form of low-level code it actually understands, thanks to the JVM. When the computer receives low-level instructions (which is compiled bytecode such as a “Something.class” file version of the original “Something.java”) it can then perform the expected tasks. For example, if I am writing a Payroll program in Java that has to pay out a salary to an employee on behalf of an employer, I would create a separate “class” for at least the Employee, the Employer, the Employee’s Salary and their Pay representing an event whereby a portion of the Salary would be dispensed (obviously a real HR/Payroll application would have many more requirements, such as tying into the Employer’s existing HR, ERP, accounting and/or auditing software, but you could accomplish a very basic pay system using this example). To get your head around the concept of “Object-Oriented design patterns” I highly recommend one of the following books:

Syntax
First off, you should get familiar with (i.e. not be scared of) the syntax of Java which is similar to many languages but identical to none (or as they say: “often imitated but never duplicated”). The following table will summarize the most important notes on syntax, which is a convention or style of programming that must be followed in order to write programs that compile and run:

Apart from this very quick overview, you can find out what native APIs are available in each version of Java’s generated javadocs. Javadocs are comments structured in a particular manner, and are used to generate standardized and easily browsable documentation of your program’s various APIs and methods, what parameters types they can accept, what values they should return and additional metadata such as author, date, last modified, and assorted info about the code. You can still find the Java API docs for the following Java versions:

• Java 1.3
• Java 1.4
• Java 1.5
• Java 1.6 (aka Java 6)
• Java 1.7 (aka Java 7)

Lastly, the following Java syntax reference as well as this “Java API cheat sheet” and of course the original Sun/Oracle Java tutorials can come in quite handy as you start to develop your own programs.

Install

EASY WAY:
All Platforms

• Navigate to the Java install site in your browser –> click “Do I have Java?” –> click “Verify Java Version” –> click “Install latest version” as suggested:
  http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp
  (works similar to Flash or Silverlight update sites by verifying current version then suggesting upgrade or install of latest stable version, if required)

HARD WAY:

• WINDOWS
  • Start –> Run –> type “cmd“, hit Enter (launches Command Prompt window) –> type “java -version“
  • download latest stable Java version from URL
    wget “http://java”
  • Unzip “java.zip”
  • Move extracted “java” folder to “C://APPS/Java/”
  • Open new foler “C://APPS/Java”
  • Run “java-<VERSION>.exe” install file

MAC

• Open Console –> type “java -version“
• Download installation file from URL:
  wget “”
• Unzip “java.tar”
• Move extracted ‘java” directory to “/Apps/Java/<VERSION>”
• Run “java-<VERSION>.app” install file

LINUX

• Launch Terminal (Bash/Shell command window) –> type “java -version“
• Download installation file from URL:
• Unzip “java.tar.gz”
• Move extracted “java” directory to “//<USER>/Apps/Java/<VERSION>”
• Run “java-<VERSION>.bin” -or- “Java.sh” (depending on platform) install file

Setting Environment Variables
After installing Java there are some environment variables that needs to be set.

• CLASSPATH : This env variable should be declared in system variable. This env variable points the location of JDK home directory. It can also contains the address to folder from which you want jars to get loaded by classloader(For more details of ClassLoader visit here)

• JAVA_HOME : This env variable should point to the location of Java home directory.

How to set env variable in different platforms:
Windows XP
To set env variable in windows XP right click “My Computer” icon and select properties. From property windows

Windows Vista / 7
To set env variable in windows Vista / 7 right click “Computer” and select properties. From property windows select “ADVANCED SYSTEM SETTINGS”. In System Properties window select “ADVANCE” tab and then click “ENVIORNMENT VARIABLES”. In next window enter enviornment variable under user/system variables settings.

MAC

LINUX
First, add an environment variable JAVA_HOME :

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/j2sdk1.4.2_04
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

Then, insert the following lines in your .bash_profile (for example .bashrc):

CLASSPATH=:/$JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/jsse.jar:/$JAVA_HOME/jre/lib:
export CLASSPATH

Examples

Ok, so I know I promised to deliver a little more than the common HelloWorldboring examples, but, for the sake of having some very simple examples to work with while getting your head around how to compile Java programs via the command-line (and even more easily, via an IDE), here are three necessary evils showing three different types of basic stand-alone HelloWorld application:

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
 * HelloWorld.java
 *  The first program anyone should write in any language.
 */
public class HelloWorld {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("Hello World");
  }
}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
 * HelloFromCommandLine.java
 *  The second program anyone should write in any language.
 *  This teaches you to accept input to your program as parameters
 *  at run-time. The Program will say your name when you provide
 *  an input.
 *  args[0] is the program name
 *  args[1] is the first parameter
 *  args[n] is the Nth parameter
 * EXAMPLE
 *   Call the program as follows (from the command-line):
 *     java HelloFromCommandLine Michael
 *   For special characters and spaces, enclose the parameter "in quotes":
 *     java HelloFromCommandLine "Michael Jackson"
 */
public class HelloFromCommandLine {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    String name = "";
    //check that the input is valid (i.e. not missing or empty space)
    if (args[1] == null || args[1].equals("")) {
      System.exit(1);
    }
    else {
      name = args[1];
    }
    System.out.println("Hello " + name);
  }
}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
 * HelloFromConsole.java
 *  The first program anyone writes in any language.
 */
public class HelloFromConsole {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.print("Please enter username: ");
    System.out.println(" ");
    ConsoleReader console = new ConsoleReader(System.in);  
    String username = console.readLine();
    System.out.println("Hello: " + username);
  }
}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
 * Multiples.java
 *  Used to calculate N multiples of 2.
 */
public class Multiples() {

  public static void printMultsOf2(int multiples) {
    int runningTotal = 2;
    for (int i = 0; i < multiples; i++) {        
        System.out.print(runningTotal + " ");
        runningTotal += 2;
    }
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    printMultsOf2(10);
  }
}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
 * NumberToBinary.java
 *   Convert a Decimal Number to a Binary Number (i.e. "2" becomes "10").
 */
import java.io.*;
import java.lang.*;

public class NumberToBinary {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
    BufferedReader bf = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
    System.out.println("Enter any number:");
    String sn = bf.readLine();
    int i = Integer.parseInt(sn);
    String s = Integer.toBinaryString(i);
    System.out.println("Binary number is:" + s);
  }
}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
 * Grade.java
 *   Given a student score, calculate their Letter Grade.
 */

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
 * GPA.java
 *   Given a set of student scores, calculate their GPA.
 */

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
 * Lottery.java
 *   Generate lotto numbers and/or given a player’s lotto
 *   ticket, check whether they are winners.
 */

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
 * ConnectToURL.java
 *  Connect to & display data from the web at a specific site’s URL.
 */
import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;

public class ConnectToURL {
  public ConnectToURL() { }

  public static void main (String[] args) throws IOException {
    try {
           URL url = new URL("http://www.bryancopeland.com");  
           BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(url.openStream()));
           String str;

           while ((str = in.readLine()) != null) {
              System.out.println(str);
           }

           in.close();
     }
     catch (MalformedURLException e) {}
     catch (IOException e) {}
  }
}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//                     THE END                          //
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Each of these four examples are in fact a fully functional, standalone Java application (although, calling them an application seems like a bit overstatement, that’s technically what they are, so consider them your very first Java applications). The first application in the examples requires no special inputs, and simply outputs the phrase “Hello World!” when compiled and run. The second application requires some input at runtime, when you actually issue the command to run you can specify after the (see running)

Compiling

You can compile the basic examples as follows:

javac HelloWorld.java

Here, javac is the Java Compiler for your installed Java version (or preferred Java version, if multiple versions are installed). On Windows, it is an executable file (i.e. a file called ”
“javac.exe“) and on Unix-based systems it is a runnable file with no extension (i.e. a file called “javac“).

Useful javac Options

Option	Purpose
-cp or -classpath	Sets the class path, used to search for class files. The class path is a list of directories, JAR files, or expressions of the form: directory/’*’ (Unix) or directory* (Windows) The latter refers to all JAR files in the given directory. Class path items are separated by : (Unix) or ; (Windows). If no class path is specified, it is set to the current directory. If a class path is specified, the current directory is not automatically included—add a . item if you want to include it.
-sourcepath	Sets the path used to search for source files. If source and class files are present for a given file, the source is compiled if it is newer. If no source path is specified, it is set to the current directory.
-d	Sets the path used to place the class files. Use this option to separate .java and .class files.
-source	Sets the source level. Valid values are 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 5, 6
-deprecation	Gives detail information about the use of deprecated features
-Xlint:unchecked	Gives detail information about unchecked type conversion warnings

Running

You can run the basic examples as follows:

java HelloWorld

When this code runs, the compiled “HelloWorld.class” class file will be interpreted as raw bytecode and result in the corresponding machine assembly code to be run to execute the required operations. In this case, the simple operations involve displaying a particular string of text on a screen (i.e. in the prompt/console/terminal in which the command was run).

Useful java Options

Option	Purpose
-cp or -classpath	Sets the class path, used to search for class files. See the previous table for details. Note that javac can succeed when java fails if the current directory is on the source path but not the class path.
-ea or -enableassertions	Enable assertions. By default, assertions are disabled.
-Dproperty=value	Sets a system property that can be retrieved by System. getProperty(String)
-jar	Runs a program contained in a JAR file whose manifest has a Main-Class entry. When this option is used, the class path is ignored.
-verbose Shows the classes that are loaded. This option may be useful to debug class loading problems.
-Xmssize -Xmxsize	Sets the initial or maximum heap size. The size is a value in bytes. Add a suffix k or m for kilobytes or megabytes, for example, -Xmx10m

Packaging
Arguably, the most important part of running and deploying full Java applications is packaging. In Java, packaging is done using one of three primary application deployment formats:

• JAR: Java Application aRchive
• WAR: Web Application aRchive
• EAR: Enterprise Application aRchive

Looking at each of these in-depth is beyond the scope of this tutorial, but I will summarize “.jar” files in particular, since they are the most common means of deploying, integrating and using libraries and reusable Java APIs.

JAR File creation

Option	Description
c	Creates a new or empty archive and adds files to it. If any of the specified file names are directories, the jar program processes them recursively.
C	Temporarily changes the directory. For example, jar cvfC myprog.jar classes *.class changes to the classes subdirectory to add class files.
e	Creates a Main-Class entry in the manifest jar cvfe myprog.jar com.mycom.mypkg.MainClass files
f	Specifies the JAR file name as the second command-line argument. If this parameter is missing, jar will write the result to standard output (when creating a JAR file) or read it from standard input (when extracting or tabulating a JAR file).
i	Creates an index file (for speeding up lookups in a large archive)
m	Adds a manifest to the JAR file. jar cvfm myprog.jar mymanifest.mf files
M	Does not create a manifest file for the entries.
t	Displays the table of contents. jar tvf myprog.jar
u	Updates an existing JAR file jar uf myprog.jar com/mycom/mypkg/SomeClass.class
v	Generates verbose output.
x	Extracts files. If you supply one or more file names, only those files are extracted. Otherwise, all files are extracted. jar xf myprog.jar

Sample Programs

Inheritance

Letter-Grade Calculator

GPA

WordCount
This example shows how to perform File I/O and String manipulations.

Data Structure
LinkedList, Array, Map

Inheritance
Abstract, Collection/Set, Protected, Reflection

Interface
Polymorphism, Overriding .vs. Overloading, super

Inheritance

IDEs

Now that you have a basic understanding of the Java programming language, you are almost prepared to create the next great application. To help you along your journey, I will conclude this tutorial with information about how to build a more complete (and manageable) project inside of an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The IDE is one of the modern programmer’s key tools in creating and managing large-scale applications, and you can basically think of it as a text editor on steroids. The best IDE has many programming language-specific features such as:

• code analysis – which is a fancy way of saying “hints” are available for automatically finding/fixing errors & warnings
• code completion – common code based on already defined APIs can be “auto-filled” as you type
• code generation – common code automatically using point and click or “User Interface Designer” tools
• code compilation – code gets compiled dynamically, as you edit and/or save, so that when you run next all code will be up-to-date
• code building – the steps of compiling, managing de build tool such as ant or ivy
• code refactoring -  the ability to rename variables, functions and other core application components across an entire project by making the change once)
• code debugging – you can step through your code line-by-line using a debugger to troubleshoot errors
• code testing- you can use language-specific testing tools, such as jUnit, EasyMock, phpUnit, etc
• code coverage – you can generate reports on what portion of the code has test cases so far
• dependency management – there is a mechanism for aiding in the use of external libraries

While back in the day I learned how to program Java on good old IDEs like JBuilder and BlueJay, today, the two most popular IDEs for Java (and arguably any languages’) software development are:

• Netbeans – open source IDE started by Sun, taken over by Oracle
  
  
• Eclipse – open source IDE started by independent community of Java developers
  
  

I hope this has been a useful tutorial in introducing the Java programming language. Later, I intend to take more in-depth looks at the most popular configuration management (i.e. Maven + Ant), continuous integration (i.e. Hudson/Jenkins) and testing (i.e. jUnit + EasyMock + Cobertura) platforms within the context of both Netbeans and Eclipse. Depending on how RIM’s new BlackBerry 10 SDK turns out, I may also focus on that platform for creating Mobile applications in Java in the new year. If it doesn’t improve much from versions 4 to 9 (which had infamously difficult to work with SDKs), then I may focus on Android or Google AppEngine instead. Java Mobile app development is really a story unto itself and may require several posts.

Related Articles

• Heroku Heats Up Its Java Service
• New tutorial: Regular expressions
• Measure execution time in Java – Spring StopWatch Example
• Facebook Moving To The JVM
• Laurence Tratt: Fast Enough VMs in Fast Enough Time
• Is Java Dead or Invincible?

]]> http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/09/24/the-getting-started-in-java-guide-that-i-wish-i-had-in-university/feed/ 1 http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/08/31/p2p-barter-my-entry-to-the-mintchip-challenge/ http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/08/31/p2p-barter-my-entry-to-the-mintchip-challenge/#comments Fri, 31 Aug 2012 04:29:56 +0000 bcmoney http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/?p=5770

Here’s an explanation of what we have today, followed by a Use-Case for my idea…

A newspaper illustration depicting a man engaging in barter, paying his yearly newspaper subscription to the "Podunk Weekly Bugle" with various farm produce. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

TODAY:

1. Person A is a farmer who has worked hard all season and is ready for harvest of their crops. For simplicity’s sake, let’s call him the “Seller“, since the next step will be to sell their produce. For that they may need any of the following:
a location (i.e. storefront or directly from their farm)
an advertising budget to attract patrons to their own farm directly (or to their storefront)
transportation or a carrier service to do deliveries, or,
distributor agreements which arrange to have the produce picked up exactly when it is ready and bring it to 3rd party wholesalers or retailers for stocking in their storefront

2. Person B has a particular skill, for example software development. They go to work for a company to earn a salary, take a contract position at a set rate, or consult independently for an agreed fee. The money they earn from their labour is typically used for food, shelter, transportation to/from work and other necessities. Anything left over probably goes towards entertainment, investment or paying down loans. They are both a seller of their service and consumer of goods, but for simplicity’s sake, lets call them the “Buyer“. To buy the Seller’s goods, they will need:
knowledge of a particular retail location (store name, directions, hours, etc)
to be aware that the Seller now has delicious produce available (and where it will be offered)
transportation to get to wherever the produce is being sold (i.e. store, market, direct from farm)
something to trade with the Seller (today: typically physical cash or digital bank savings, tomorrow: MintChips)

This food industry example works great, because almost everyone in the current “food” economy has a primary role of Buyer; not Seller, producer, grower or anything related to creation of value. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), only 2% of Americans are employed in the Agriculture sector, whereas in the last century over 30% were.
REF: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/qlinks/extension.html

The same goes for Canada, with some supporting statistics from Statistics Canada.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ca-ra2006/articles/snapshot-portrait-t2-eng.htm

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/ca-ra2011/index-eng.htm

And even in Japan, in fact, this is the trend in all “developed nations”.

http://www.tokyofoundation.org/en/articles/2008/the-perilous-decline-of-japanese-agriculture-1

JUST A FEW PROBLEMS WITH CURRENT SYSTEM:
1. Fragile local food industry which suffers from “globalization” of produce
2. Dependency on oil prices being low enough to ship goods internationally
3. Disregard for individual sellers, as the availability of a large number of providers decreases the need to maintain relationships
4. A lot of redundancy and waste built into the supply chain
(i.e. Chile ships us Blueberries so we can ship our Canadian Blueberries to Europe)

FUTURE SITUATION (thanks to MintChip):
1. Person A is a farmer who has a need an Interactive Advertisement to send out via the web (i.e. social network, email newsletter, etc) which will advertise their latest harvest being made available at the local Farmer’s Market this weekend. For simplicity’s sake, let’s call them the “Seller” again.

2. Person B is a Software Developer (or artist, graphical designer, etc…) with experience doing Interactive Advertisements. They also need to feed their family, thus coincidentally they have a particular interest in this Seller’s product. For simplicity’s sake, lets call them the “Buyer” again.

EXCHANGE OF VALUE:
1. Person A requests a provider with the experience and reputation to build their Interactive Advertisement and Person B is suggested.
2. Person B agrees to build an interactive promotional web application (which they typically charge a rate of $50/hr for) on the promise of payment, which will be held via MintChips.

APPLICATION:
The application I’m proposing would calculate the amount of Person A’s goods that are required to meet the pay rate of Person B. Person A can then choose whether they wish to initiate a Barter transaction, or, perform a mico-payment to Person B directly via MintChips.

Likewise, Person B can choose whether they prefer to accept payment in the full Bartered-value offering, or, the equivalent digital payment via MintChips. The two parties can also meet somewhere in the middle by adjusting a combination of physical goods exchange and digital MintChip exchange.

BENEFIT:
Person A and Person B never need to meet face to face, just as they currently do not need to meet with cash, credit or debit transactions performed at 3rd party retailers.

Person A has discovered Person B’s talent and establish a professional relationship with them, which they may fall back on again when they need similar work done. Usually, Person A would have had to
have gone through an agency, recruiter or freelancing service.

Meanwhile, Person A is now aware of the quality of produce available locally, through Person B. They will thus aim to maintain a positive relationship with Person B as they can save overall on costs as compared to relying on international Sellers. They may wish to offer their services again, or, obtain other sources of value with which to barter with Person B, the next time they need that type of produce.
Why MintChips instead of dollars from a bank account?

Cutting out the middlemen who do not add value to the supply-chain is probably the main benefit of the example above.

The banking sector is another prime example of an institution which adds little to no value to the transactions that occur daily between Buyers and Sellers. They merely guarantee the safe delivery of money from one party to another.

MintChip can serve this function for daily expenditures, and would not require massive or unfair per-transaction, monthly or annual fees.

MintChips can be communicated with remotely, so two parties conducting a transaction do not have to be in the same physical location.

MintChips provide added security that many banks don’t offer (or offer only to premium clients), such as the ability to rollback transactions, make anonymous payments and high-level encryption of all information contained in the transaction.

 

Last, but certainly not least, I managed to sneak in a nice “tongue-in-cheek” question during the webinar (yet something seriously worth considering when you take a look at CFR, Club of Rome, World Bank, IMF and UN documentation released lately):

 

Related Articles

• Mint promotes digital-chip currency for penniless future (theprovince.com)
• How MintChip Could Change the Face of Currency (lockergnome.com)
• Royal Canadian Mint introduces MintChip to handle (thebankwatch.com)
• Canada To Launch Digital Currency (eogn.com)
• Canada To Launch Its Own Version Of BitCoin Called MintChip (fastcompany.com)
• Royal Canadian MintChip Challenge: Evolution of Currency (tekartist.org)

]]> http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/08/31/p2p-barter-my-entry-to-the-mintchip-challenge/feed/ 0 http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/07/31/suggestions-for-the-canadian-federal-government/ http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/07/31/suggestions-for-the-canadian-federal-government/#comments Tue, 31 Jul 2012 21:22:14 +0000 bryan http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/?p=6137

WikiProject Political parties and politicians in Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With all the world events going on these days (both good and bad news), there’s plenty I’d like to write about. The purpose of this post, however, will be to focus on the Canadian Federal Government (in as party-agnostic a manner as possible) and what we can do as a nation to not only keep up with other countries technologically and economically, but to also take a step forward and lead by example, thereby gaining the respect we deserve in the international community in the 21st century and beyond.

To get it out of the way, I’ll start with a little obvious bias and state that I think Stephen Harper and the current Conservative Party are not doing a great job, but can also agree they’re not doing a terrible job; instead, we’ve ended up with something in between which looks more like stagnation than progress. Even I will concede though, that in these tumultuous times, staying where we’ve already been is certainly not the worst we could have ended up. This is especially true when you look at the total and complete destruction of other developed nations‘ economies including our biggest trading partner and ally the United States, and the ongoing financial calamities in Greece, Spain and Italy that threaten to spread to the rest of the EU and potentially result in the dissolution of the Euro.

Certainly, many countries other than Canada are also experiencing tough times and are no strangers to poor decisions (or indecision) by their appointed leaders. The story that had everyone’s attention the past few weeks though, was the “Death of Science” protests that took place in the form of a mock-funeral with casket representing “the body of evidence”. While I appreciated seeing such a peaceful gathering of Canadians voicing their concerns with the direction of our country, like Occupy Wall Street’s “Canadian branch” of protests, I failed to see any positive progress let alone any reaction at all from our government. The reason why the government’s predictable chess move of going for a stalemate has been so successful, and subsequently, why we’ve made little to no progress, is because of a combination of media and government collusion to largely ignore, disparage and disavow any responsibility for the protests along with a complete lack of solutions being presented in a coherent manner by the protesters themselves.

To succeed, any mass movement needs leaders even if those leaders are no more than symbolical figureheads. From the beginning, there didn’t seem to be many notable public figures, scientists or research leaders speaking out as part of the scientific protests. Where are David Suzuki, Paul Watson, Margaret Atwood, Neil Young and other leading activists of our nation; they have led numerous initiatives in the past on environmental causes, but the fact is that environmental degradation is highly interlinked to the broken economic system which emphasizes exploitation of natural resources and maximization of profits. While they may be beyond their most active years, simply having them lend their voice to an initiative by video message for example, could energize a real movement; indeed their most valuable contribution to Canadian society could prove to be their role in encouraging the next generation of activists. Furthermore, the media’s near blackout silence in this regard (or I should say, one-day intensive coverage back in April, followed by completely ignoring the protests themselves) has no doubt helped the government placate an angry community of some of Canada’s best and brightest. With a strong figurehead and some basic contact information though, at least alternative media would know who to reach out to and could thus conduct interviews and open a dialogue with the protesters.

Just as the government can do a much better job running the country and responding to protests in a reasonable manner, we too as responsible citizens can do better at getting our points across peacefully. We need to organize our protests better, and learn a thing or two from the Middle East’s ongoing protests which have effectively used Social Media and mobile telecommunications systems to coordinate and implement protests with a massive scale, that send such a powerful message to their elected governments that they can’t possibly be ignored. Despite Western media’s portrayal of these protests as barbaric sieges, by and large (with an important exception being suspiciously heavily armed rebels, as well as a few notable terrible incidents and armed rebel instigations aside) the demonstrations themselves have mostly been peaceful, massive in scale and certainly very effective. By contrast, “Occupy Wall Street” and its Canadian factions were swiftly shut down because they broke many municipal by-laws when they encouraged protesters to set up overnight camps in public parks, on government or public property. This was an easily avoidable mistake, and the act of camping out in make-shift tents and shacks had little to no impact on gaining wider support (if anything, seeing unbathed noisy hooligans downtown and hearing them at all hours of the day quickly cut off support and sympathy from the general public). What has happened in Occupy of any substance since then? Not a whole lot (looking at dates of the major Occupy protests there hasn’t been many in 2012). Likewise, the latest protests in support of science and research have been easily ignored, co-opted or by their own lack of organization and goals, have petered off rather ineffectively. To finalize this point, how did the government react to the student protests against tuition increases? They shutdown freedom of speech by enacting Bill 78. Case in point, we have people willing to pass legislation that takes away freedom of speech currently in power in government, and once these bills are passed they are very difficult if not impossible to reverse. Let’s not give tyrants an excuse to be tyrants. If the protests had simply dropped the vandalism, taunting of police in riot gear and blatant disregard for those not participating in the protests (thereby turning a protest into a borderline riot), then we might not have been in this position.

What would I like to see? Well I don’t think it takes that much but a little more organization could go a long way. Why not have a single website for Canadians that allows them to voice their concerns and organize peaceful protests lawfully. Something as simple as a live, real-time protest location map such as that at GlobalChange, plus some sort of system for voting on hot-topic issues of the day such as federal government budget cuts, tuition/tax increases and bills proposed in the house (like Bill 78) where each vote could quickly be given a unique URI where all related data could be pulled in such as StatsCanada statistics, parties involved and related laws/issues. This site would have local contacts with city planning staff, politicians, police, fire departments, ambulance/medical and city planning staff, so protests could be legally approved and the need for paramilitary stormtroopers to come trample on our rights (and bodies) could go away.

Sure, I fully understand that we “shouldn’t need” to let TPTB know we’re coming; we should be able to execute our rights to free speech at any time, in any public place, and in almost any way we wanted to. However, the reality is that Big Brother seems to be here, they don’t like protests, they’ve got fire power, and they are always a step ahead. Rather than making it an “Us .vs. Them” kind of battle, why don’t we make it more of an “Us & Them” discussion.  We need to give them no excuse to shut down protests authoritatively, and we need to do an even better job of identifying and preventing violent protesters (i.e. false-flag provocateurs or instigators from their side, as it were) from acting out in a way that invites police or military to come in and confront citizens violently to quell all descent (and perhaps spirit) we have left. All too often, innocent people end up getting caught in these police .vs. protester conflicts, for example:

Montreal (Students protest tuition hikes; law prohibiting protests on campus & mask wearing)

Toronto (G20 Summit; Charter Rights suspended due to select few “suspicious Anarchists”)

 

Vancouver (Canucks’ loss in Stanley Cup playoffs, possibly the dumbest reason to protest ever)

 

Hindsight is 20-20 as they say, but even Canada’s first OWS organizer seems to agree with my sentiment. Their own documents (whose figures are probably underestimates) highlight the problem that innocent bystanders and peaceful protesters get unfairly caught in the crosshairs of police crackdowns that happen as a result of violent or destructive actions of a select few people, who almost always get away before the crackdown occurs.

 

Waste in Government
There’s definitely plenty of waste that can be cut in government, but this “cut everything” policy is the wrong approach. What we need are more transparency and public participation in deciding which researchers and projects get funded funded, and less “lifer” positions which serve as little more than revolving doors for business and academia, allowing people to “retire” before they retire to easier, even cushier positions wherein they travel the world on tax payer dollars to attend redundant conferences and publish little more than a paper or two per year that virtually no one ever reads.

Improvements for Government
One thing the Harper government has done well is to push back against the constant Environmentalism rhetoric coming from many leading UN and G20 nations. It makes absolutely no sense to punish Canadians or the economy by needlessly slowing down oil sands production or forcing Canadian energy companies out of the process (while foreign companies, who are notoriously less environmentally cautious have the chance to buy up access to the sands and pollute away). At the same time, I see a major failure in planning for the future by not making sustainable energy sources more of a priority, so we can eventually kick our addiction to dirty oil.

My Humble Suggestions

1. Use the web to improve transparency.
   (especially take a cue from the Linked Open Data US and UK to greatly improve the early beta Data.gc.ca site to make better use of Stats Canada census data, geographic/mapping, transport, energy, environmental, economic, trade and election data we are already paying for collection thereof, but which is not easily accessible; interlinking to provincial and municipal data will also be the next important step once Federal data is part of the Linked Data graph)
   
   
   
2. Solicit more public feedback and citizen participation before making major decisions.
   (offer public polls via the web and telephone then utilize the data for descision-making on hot button or critical topics such as Military spending, Shale Gas Fracking/Exploration, Keystone Pipeline, Natural Resource usage, Vaccination & Prescription Drug Approvals, Agricultural Legislation, Education, Research Projects that should get funded, Budget/Tax priorities, etc)
   
   
   
3. Get the money out of politics.
   (no politician should make more than the mean Canadian household income, an incentive for them to raise everyone’s standard of living before )
   
   
   
4. Both nepotism and cronyism are rampant in government and have to be put to a stop.
   (rather than being rewarded for supporting a specific party with a cushy, pensioned, back-office government administration job, candidates of any party who have lost elections and their immediate campaign staffers should be temporarily relieved of any government positions or contract bids for at least 2 years without benefits, and thereby be forced to look for work in the private sector, academia, or start their own small business to prove their worth and gain a more varied experience to enhance their socio-political perspectives; after this “probation period” they could run again, work in a party campaign office, or choose to solely focus on providing a public service by working effectively in a government role)
   
   
   
5. The revolving door between government and enterprises must be closed.
   (at the executive and upper-management levels in particular, we must avoid giving top executives with conflicting interests any law-making powers)
   
   

 

Conclusion
Back to the struggles of other nations, you could point to the ongoing corruption charges and investigations going on in the UK over the , Italy’s recent ouster last year and ongoing trials of pervert Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (of “bunga-bunga party” infamy), and last but not least France’s raiding of Nicolas Sarkozi’s mansion in Paris while he hides out here in Canada (ironically enough). What this all points to is that the “old order” is crumbling and a new order is indeed taking form, let’s just hope its not the “New World Order” several power-elite businessmen, politicians, bankers and others have had their sights on, not least of which include both Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. who have spoken fondly of the concept in the past.

On the contrary, what recent events should prove is that we’re moving towards a more free and independent existence, with decentralized government and more transparency, whether the old guard likes it or not. In Canada, we have a leadership who, while not seeming particularly nefarious, can at least easily be reprimanded for their poor decisions or lack of effectiveness of their policies. What we need to do is take our freedom into our own hands rather than leaving it up to government to decide how much freedom we should get. We also need to continue to work to point out areas of blatant waste or inefficiencies, and make decisions about what alternatives could work better.

 

 

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]]> http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/07/31/suggestions-for-the-canadian-federal-government/feed/ 0 http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/07/01/top-10-canadians-for-canada-day-2012/ http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/07/01/top-10-canadians-for-canada-day-2012/#comments Sun, 01 Jul 2012 01:00:11 +0000 bcmoney http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/?p=5641

Canadian Celebrities (Photo credit: Replica )

Here’s something not totally tech-related for Canada Day 2012.

I decided to make a short but sweet tribute to my favourite Canadians who are making a difference in people’s lives all over the world, every day. My choices ended up in the list either because of something exceptional or newsworthy that they did in this past year (or because of an accumulation of work in recent years). These won’t be the same Canadians found on your typical “MuchMusic Top 10″ or “CTV eTalk Daily Award Winners”, as most of them are alternative media journalists, alternative medicine practitioners or other activists.

 

 

My listing of my Top 10 cool Canadians for 2012:

1. Rick Simpson – Founder of Phoenix Tears’ Hemp Oil; for fighting personal liberty and freedom to use alternative medicines
2. Javan Kerby Bernakevitch – Founder of Permaculture BC
3. James Loney – Peace Activist and former Hostage; for speaking out against war in Iran (or any country)
4. Alan Watt – Researcher, Author & Musician; though born Scottish he has immigrated to Canada and now focuses on “waking people up” to the matrix
5. Jim Meaney – Founder of Cansolair’s pop can-powered Solar Panel
6. Russell Peters – Comedian; for keeping us laughing during tumultuous times
7. James Corbett – Alternative Media Reporter; for not pulling any punches in reporting the news
8. Firas Zahabi – Martial Artist & Professional MMA trainer; for training GSP and many other skilled athletes, as well as donating time to youth programs and public speaking
9. Markus Frind – Founder & CEO, Plenty of Fish; for fighting frivolous Google AdSense lawsuits
10. James Cameron – Film Director & Explorer; for being the first human to reach the depth of 55000+ feet below the ocean’s surface
    • Honourable mention goes to:
11. Jack Layton – Former Leader of the NDP; for inspiring a nation to vote outside the two-party system and instill positive change… sadly he passed away on August 22nd, 2011
12. Severn Cullis-Suzuki – Environmental Activist and (less sensationalist) daughter of David Suzuki
13. Donald Sutherland – Actor & Anti-war Activist; for resigning from his Huffington Post writing position and publicly withdrawing his support for Obama
14. Robert Menard – Freeman on the Land & Legal Consultant; for being a shit-disturber extraordinaire, although I couldn’t put him on the list because of some claims have gotten people in trouble with the law
15. Jordan Breen – MMA reporter for Sherdog.com; for dedication to the sport of combat, a less violent alternative than war… imagine if the world’s leaders just got into the octagon to settle disputes rather than sending young people off to die

A big congratulations and thank you is very much in order for these fine Canadians and their respective contributions. Hats off, and…

 

 

Lastly, here’s a video on the founding of Canada’s national flag and iconic symbol, the Maple Leaf:

This text will be replaced

 

Happy Canada Day everyone!

 

 

Related Articles

• Brandon, Winnipeg crack Top 10 Canadian cities (cbc.ca)
• When did you feel most proud of Canada? (cbc.ca)
• Federal government hires consultant to inject some war into Canada Day party (theglobeandmail.com)

]]> http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/07/01/top-10-canadians-for-canada-day-2012/feed/ 1 http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/06/22/cnn-style-interactive-news-ticker-html5css3/ http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/06/22/cnn-style-interactive-news-ticker-html5css3/#comments Fri, 22 Jun 2012 21:59:06 +0000 bcmoney http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/?p=5601

CNN breaking the news of a plane crash at the World Trade Center (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With the real, true and unbiased news inevitably moving online towards the so-called “Alternative Media” (which really is almost reaching the point where it is not alternative so much as the first go-to source), its a good idea to start replicating some of the most useful elements from Television, Print and Radio (aka. the rest of the dinosaur media).

The CNN News Ticker Tape is a somewhat controversial item, as it is considered annoying by many. However, in terms of being able to quickly get information across the screen without interrupting another presentation, it is arguably somewhat effective. Proponents of its use claim it is the best way to get instant updates while maintaining a coherent programming schedule, while critics point to its potential for misuse and indoctrination of the weak-minded with subliminal messages flashing across the screen or fear-mongering sensationalism so common in the “Mainstream Media” today.

Taking the bad and the good into consideration, I’ve thrown together a mock-up that could function somewhat similarly to the Semantically Enhanced Video Pop-ups I’ve implemented using Popcorn.js and to replicate the VH1 Pop-up Video effect. You could imagine having the usefulness of having contextual content being inferred based on the content being viewed, or, simply populating a basic news ticker with the entries from an existing RSS or Atom news feed to link to the day’s top stories.

This becomes much more interactive and responsive than Traditional TV News Tickers as they can be paused on hover actions, offer more information by making stories clickable to popup a new window or displaying an article in-page, and have fonts/typography/colors/scroll speed and many other settings which are configurable and customizable for specific users, let alone specific TV channels.

<body onload="setClock(); setInterval('setClock()', 1000)">
<h1>Interactive Ticker/Scroller</h1>
<div id="tv">
    <div id="screen">
        <a href="#" onclick="playVideo();"><img src="http://frankpaulgambino59.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/cnn-best-political-team-in-television.jpg" alt="CNN Newsroom scene" /></a>        </div>
    <div id="ticker">
        <div class="newsflash">
          <div class="slant1" style="width:7em;"></div>
          <div class="slant2" style="width:7em;"></div>
          <p>
             Arab spring, under the protests many suffered and unfortunate fate at the hands of brutal...
          </p>
        </div>        
        <div id="logo">
            <a href="http://www.cnn.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/Cnn.svg/201px-Cnn.svg.png" width="75px" alt="CNN" />
        </div>
        <div id="scroller">
          <marquee id="scrolling" onmouseover='this.scrollamount=0; this.stop();' onmouseout='this.scrollamount=5; this.start();'>
            <ul>
                <li><a href="#1">News in the key of nonsense</a></li>
                <li><a href="#2">Man with 3 arms has baby with no head</a></li>
                <li><a href="#3">Silver-screen has never looked greyer</a></li>
                <li><a href="#4">Wall Street kingpin's empire burns amid corruption charges</a></li>
                <li><a href="#5">We're doing our best to ignore Ron Paul, but now you see right through it!</a></li>
            </ul>
          </marquee>
        </div>
        <div id="time">
          <span id="clock"> </span>
        </div>                
    </div>
</div>
</body>

 
The CSS to style the presentation looks as follows:

div#ticker {
    font-family:'Arial Narrow', Arial, 'Courier New', Courier, serif;
    font-weight:bold;
    width:580px;
    border-top:2px solid red;
    margin:-65px auto;
    background:black;
/* Fallback for web browsers that don't support RGBa */
    background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
/* RGBa with 0.6 opacity */
    background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);
/* For IE 5.5 - 7*/
filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#99000000, endColorstr=#99000000);
/* For IE 8*/
    -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#99000000, endColorstr=#99000000)";
    opacity:0.9;
    filter:Alpha(opacity=90); /* IE8 and earlier */    
}

/* Logo */
div#logo {     
    float:left;  
    position:absolute;
    padding:10px;
    width:75px;
    z-index:1000001;    
    background:black;    
    color:red;
    text-shadow:#506 2px 2px 2px;    
}
div#logo img { opacity:1; filter:Alpha(opacity=100); }

div#scroller {
    float:left;
    overflow:hidden;
}
/* Ticker */
div#scroller marquee {
    position:absolute;
    z-index:1000000;
    width:578px;
    margin:30px 2px 2px 2px;
    padding:20px -1px 20px 75px;     
    font-size:1.4em;
    font-weight:bold;
    font-family:Arial, 'Courier New', Courier, serif;
    text-transform:uppercase;
    color:red';    
    background:black;
/* Fallback for web browsers that don't support RGBa */
    background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
/* RGBa with 0.6 opacity */
    background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);
/* For IE 5.5 - 7*/
filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#99000000, endColorstr=#99000000);
/* For IE 8*/
    -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#99000000, endColorstr=#99000000)";
    opacity:0.9;
    filter:Alpha(opacity=90); /* IE8 and earlier */    
}
div#scroller marquee ul { list-style-type:circle; }
div#scroller marquee li { float:left; padding:0 32px 0 8px; }
div#scroller marquee a { color:goldenrod; text-shadow:#ccf 1px 1px 1px; }

/* Clock */
div#time {
    float:right;
    width:578px;
    text-align:right;
    color:#fff;
    position:absolute;
    padding:2px 10px 8px 2px;
    background:black;
/* Fallback for web browsers that don't support RGBa */
    background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
/* RGBa with 0.6 opacity */
    background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);
/* For IE 5.5 - 7*/
filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#99000000, endColorstr=#99000000);
/* For IE 8*/
    -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#99000000, endColorstr=#99000000)";
    opacity:0.9;
    filter:Alpha(opacity=90); /* IE8 and earlier */    
}

/* Newsflash hover */
div.newsflash {
    display:none;
    position:absolute;
    top:400px;
    background:white;
    color:black;
    margin:1em auto;
    padding:0;
    width:580px;
    text-align:center;
    border-bottom:1px solid #eee;
    background:black;
/* Fallback for web browsers that don't support RGBa */
    background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
/* RGBa with 0.6 opacity */
    background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);
/* For IE 5.5 - 7*/
filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#99000000, endColorstr=#99000000);
/* For IE 8*/
    -ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr=#99000000, endColorstr=#99000000)";
    opacity:0.9;
    filter:Alpha(opacity=90); /* IE8 and earlier */    
}
div.slant1 {
    background:transparent;
    height:0;
    border-style:solid none none solid;
    border-color:black black black white;
    border-width:2em 1em;
    margin:0 0 0 0.5em;
    padding:0;
    float:right;
    clear:right;
    opacity:0.7;
    filter:Alpha(opacity=70); /* IE8 and earlier */    
}
div.slant2 {
    background:transparent;
    height:0;
    border-style:solid solid none none;
    border-color:black white black white;
    border-width:2em 1em;
    margin:0 0.5em 0 0;
    padding:0;    
    float:left;
    clear:left;
    opacity:0.7;
    filter:Alpha(opacity=70); /* IE8 and earlier */    
}

 

The JavaScript to handle any interactive behaviours or events is:

function setClock() {
  var today = new Date();

  var currentHours = today.getHours();
  var currentMinutes = today.getMinutes();
  var currentSeconds = today.getSeconds();

  // Pad the minutes and seconds with leading zeros, if required
  currentMinutes = ( currentMinutes < 10 ? "0" : "" ) + currentMinutes;
  currentSeconds = ( currentSeconds < 10 ? "0" : "" ) + currentSeconds;
  var timeOfDay = ( currentHours < 12 ) ? "AM" : "PM";   // Use "AM" or "PM" depending on time of day


  // Convert the hours component to 12-hour format
  currentHours = ( currentHours > 12 ) ? currentHours - 12 : currentHours;
  currentHours = ( currentHours == 0 ) ? 12 : currentHours; // Convert millitary hours to "0" to "12"

  // Compose the string for display
  var currentTime = currentHours + ":" + currentMinutes + ":" + currentSeconds + " " + timeOfDay;
    console.log(currentTime + ' ' + document.getElementById("clock").innerHTML);
  document.getElementById("clock").innerHTML = currentTime;
}

function playVideo() {
            document.getElementById('screen').innerHTML = ''; return false;
}

 
 

As usual, you can try out a demonstration or download the source of this prototype below:

 

DEMO
CNN-style News Ticker

-OR-

DOWNLOAD
CNN-style News Ticker

 

In Conclusion, hopefully a more interactive, user-controllable and customizable news ticker for the web and online video becomes more useful (and less sinister) than the one we’ve had thrust upon us on TV.

 

Related Articles

• IDEA: A Smarter Sports News Ticker (levynewsnetwork.wordpress.com)
• You Can’t Escape the Facebook News Ticker Anymore (labnol.org)
• Hate the Facebook News Ticker? Some Can Now Hide It (readwriteweb.com)
• A News Ticker For Your Desktop (ghacks.net)
• Retickr Updates with a Better Interface, Time Sliders, and More [Mac Downloads] (lifehacker.com)
• Retickr turns your RSS feed into a desktop news ticker (venturebeat.com)

]]> http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/06/22/cnn-style-interactive-news-ticker-html5css3/feed/ 0 http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/05/18/foaf-and-the-facebook-death-star/ http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/05/18/foaf-and-the-facebook-death-star/#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 00:01:37 +0000 bcmoney http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/?p=5147

The Facebook Death Star

Since the February confirmation of the Facebook IPO, Facebook has continued to stagnate in user-base yet as an organization it holds no punches as it attempts to grow internationally, and its stock price continues to soar as Class A shares finally open up to the average person (major investment firms had first dibs at the initial Class A shares released during the IPO). Facebook founder and owner Mark Zuckerberg maintains 58% control of the company through complete control of Class C shares and veto power over all Class B shares. This is indeed shaping up to be a new Galactic (global internet) Empire, similar to that sought by a young Annakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith. The new schematics for a seemingly unstoppable battle station would be the carefully-timed Facebook Timeline rollout along with Facebook Connect and OpenGraph protocol. So if one can draw vague parallels between Mark Zuckerberg and Darth Vader, who can play the role of the Emperor? An obvious choice would be early angel investor Petr Thiel of PayPal, but a more appropriate figure is Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, whose company owns approximately 2% of Facebook:

Symbolizing Facebook as the death star is hardly a new concept, just check out these previous references.

Enter the FOAF project and its RDF/XML data format for representing friendship connections in a social network, as well as personal interests and contact info. Although the FOAF file format is designed first of all to be machine readable, it is often desirable to be able to browse it as if it were a usual Web page.

In this sense, FOAF plays an important role as fulfilling the “porthole” metaphor to the otherwise indestructible empire’s most frightening tool of all, the Facebook Death Star. Now I should make it perfectly clear, that I have nothing against Facebook in particular. In fact, since the social network’s inception in 2004 (and widespread open launch in 2006), I have been a user from almost day one, according to Facebook I joined just three days (two days if you subtract the 13 hour dateline from the Tokyo timezone, as I was living in Japan) on September 29th, 2006. Back then, Facebook was nothing more than a slightly useful private, yet sharable (with your select list of contacts only) address book. My issue comes with the hype that surrounds it today, as well as their increasing assault on personal privacy.

Since they have continually relaxed their privacy policy, I’ve personally deleted more and more of my private information (or intentionally left it out of date) and have attempted to lock my profile down as much as possible. See the following infographic (click on the infographic to see the demise of privacy on Facebook over time):

Initiatives like FOAF+SSL combined with a Single Sign-On authentication mechanism like WebFinger or OpenID and an authorization mechanism like OAuth provide an excellent alternative to storing your personal information and online activities in Facebook. The problem is that updating and storing raw XML or JSON data or writing your own web application to keep track of pings from various web services is way beyond the technical understanding (or desired use of personal time) of the average web user. Thus, Facebook came along and filled a void in an incredibly useful manner, by providing the easiest to use UI and many features. The question, which many projects such as Elgg and Diaspora have tried to answer, is whether its possible to provide a similar service in a more open and transparent, de-centralized manner that puts users’ privacy at the forefront of its advantages.

The Facebook Death Star

Other applications skip the schnazzy and flashy “information sink-hole” features of Facebook which are designed to get more and more personal info from its users, instead opting to provide a simple visual representation of raw FOAF data. For example, the now defunct MyBlogLog which was a personal blogging platform that got acquired by Yahoo! in 2007 only to be disbanded in May 2011. While operating, it offered a raw FOAF export version of blogger profiles and blog community connections.

Kent Brewster, then a Yahoo! employee, created a prototype visualizer for FOAF relationship objects, which mashed up MyBlogLog FOAF objects with links to other online Social Network accounts associated with a user’s MyBlogLog, creating a cyclical graph node browser complete with breadcrumbs:
. What FOAFster allowed you to visualize was profile images for a bunch of FOAF contacts (friends), scattered around the screen, and network services accounts owned by a particular person, in a much neater line at the top.

When the MyBlogLog service was finally shutdown, the last remaining service for lightweight, client-side FOAF profile visualizations became FOAF.vix, a visualizer and relation explorer for standalone, single-user FOAF files. This is an excellent little tool created by Wojciech Polak which can act as a quick and dirty “FOAF Importer” for any social media app. The only thing missing is an answer to the question “where will all the FOAF data come from?” The answer is quite simple of course. For most of us, we have already created a rich personalized FOAF file; the only problem is that it is stuck in our Facebook profile. However previous attempts to allow the export of this valuable personal data have thus far been squashed (by throttling, blocking or removal from Facebook App repository altogether).

So today, I’m releasing a snippet of code from OpenRecommender which will ultimately be used in SkipSearch, a new front-end Recommendation Engine for all types of content. The code allows you to do just that, export a snapshot of your Facebook profile as a shiny new FOAF document, that can be backed up on your own computer/devices and used to import into other services (although I’m not necessarily encouraging that, just trying to empower users with potential to backup and a little choice). As usual you can run a quick demo or download the code snippet used:

DEMO
FOAF exporter

-OR-

DOWNLOAD
Facebook plugin

Conclusion
Facebook’s IPO is sure to make a splash today, but my only hope from this post is that people keep the hype in check. Be reminded of the last Web boom & bubble burst, as more and more companies with small competitive differentiation and modes revenues such as Facebook, Zynga, LinkedIN and Grouper gain astronomical IPO valuations. At the same time, I wish Facebook, as well as their employees and investors all the best during what is sure to be a tumultuous time. Please keep your feet firmly planted on the ground and don’t get any “delusions of grandeur”.

Lastly, I encourage everyone with the technical expertise to do so, to take the code snippets provided (before its too late and the Facebook Death Star closes its FOAF porthole), and integrate FOAF import/export capabilities into your own Facebook Applications, to ensure that in the aftermath of the IPO, you are not at Facebook’s mercy if they decide to start charging for access to their API or blocking attempts to crawl the social graph. Rest assured though, there will always be a weakness in their defences, and there are more than one way to scale the seemingly impenetrable data wall… I welcome other ideas and methods of getting your friends/contacts and interest data out of Facebook, to allow more data portability. Please add your thoughts in the comments area!

UPDATE: (2012-05-18): It seems like since posting this, both FOAF Generator and GiveMeMyData are back in operation with revamped versions. Hopefully they also make use of a similar single API request graph-generation method rather than repeatedly crawling the Facebook Graph API, otherwise we all risk the same blocking as before.

 

 

Related Articles

• Is Facebook’s IPO an exit strategy? (ZDnet.com)
• The Social Graph is Neither (Pinboard Blog)
• Here’s What Could Kill Facebook (TechCrunch.com)
• How to write a simple foaf+ssl authentication servlet (blogs.oracle.com)
• OpenId ♥ foaf+ssl (blogs.oracle.com)
• Web Finger proposals overview (blogs.oracle.com)
• Viral Video: Farewell to the No-IPO Mark Zuckerberg (allthingsd.com)
• Saving Face: The Privacy Architecture of Facebook (blogs.oracle.com)
• Facebook IPO could be richest in tech history (macleans.ca)

]]> http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/05/18/foaf-and-the-facebook-death-star/feed/ 0 http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/04/15/unboxing-the-mintchip/ http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/04/15/unboxing-the-mintchip/#comments Sun, 15 Apr 2012 04:17:05 +0000 bryan http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/?p=5691

Royal Canadian Mint (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Royal Canadian Mint(RCM) has sponsored the MintChip Challenge 2012 in an effort to attract developers to the idea of developing software for the MintChip and giving away their best financial application ideas, basically, for free (on the long-shot that you are one of the few who win).

Starting April 1st, 2012, they began mailing out physical MintChip developer kits for up to 500 contestants (which will likely be an order of magnitude more actual developers involved when you count those who will inevitably work on larger teams).

Since Digital Currencies and related technologies have long been on my radar as a major business opportunity area, as well as a personal interest of mine in terms of how they work, it was only natural to apply for a kit. Today, mine finally arrived!

 

Contained in the package:

• USB-microSD reader with MintChip software pre-installed
• 2 MintChip MicroSD cards (aka. the MintChips themselves)
• 2 SD-microSD card readers (paired with MintChips; one can act as sender, one as receiver)
• Brief instructions on how to find your $100 balance for each MintChip (but no URLs, of course!)
• The package itself has a punch-out Door Hanger on the back

 

The container:

Package

 

The MintChip:

microSD card (x2)

 

MintChip reader:

USB microSD card reader

VIDEO (the Images above are mine, taken with my PC’s webcam… however the following video of an unboxing is not):

The code (the JavaScript API requires a browser-plugin, while Java and .Net libraries do not):

 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
 <head>
   <meta charset="utf-8" />
   <title>MintChip JavaScript API - sample code</title>
   <script type="text/javascript" src="http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jquery-latest.min_4.js"></script>
   <!--[if lt IE 9]>
    <script src="http://html5shiv.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js"></script>
 <![endif]-->
  <style type="text/css">
    header, section, footer, aside, nav, article, figure, audio, video, canvas  { display:block; }
  </style>
 </head>
 <body>
  <div id="wrapper">
   <!-- MintChip Browser Plugin -->
    <object id="mintChipApiPlugin" type="application/x-mintchipplugin">
      <param name="onload" value="pluginLoaded" />
    </object>
  </div>
 <script type="text/javascript">
   document.getElementById("mintChipApiPlugin");
 </script>
 </body>
 </html>

 

The API:

1. mintChip.createValueMessage(request)
   • valueMessage.amount
   • valueMessage.annotation
   • valueMessage.challenge
   • valueMessage.createdTime
   • valueMessage.currencyCode
   • valueMessage.mintChipVersion
   • valueMessage.payeeId
   • valueMessage.payerId
2. mintChip.getLastCreatedValueMessage(annotation)
3. mintChip.getStatus()
   • mintChipStatus.balance
   • mintChipStatus.creditLogCount
   • mintChipStatus.creditLogCountRemaining
   • mintChipStatus.debitLogCount
   • mintChipStatus.debitLogCountRemaining
   • mintChipStatus.maxCreditAllowed
   • mintChipStatus.maxDebitAllowed
4. mintChip.isValidId(mintChipId)
5. mintChip.loadValueMessage(valueMessage)
6. mintChip.readTransactionLog(logType, startIndex, numOfEntries)
   • logEntry.amount
   • logEntry.challenge
   • logEntry.index
   • logEntry.logType
     • CREDIT – 0 – Represents a credit transaction, a deposit.
     • DEBIT – 1 – Represents a debit transaction, a withdrawal.
7. logEntry.payeeId
8. logEntry.payerId
9. logEntry.transactionTime The date and time (accurate to the minute) this log entry occurred.
10. mintChip.version
11. mintChip.currencyCode
    • CHF – 0 – Swiss franc
    • CAD – 1 – Canadian dollar
    • USD – 2 – US dollar
    • EUR – 3 – Euro
    • GBP – 4 – British pound
    • JPY – 5 – Japanese yen
    • AUD – 6 – Australian dollar
    • INR – 7 – Indian rupee
    • RUB – 8 – Russian ruble
12. mintChip.id

 

*OPTIONAL*
There’s also a Hosted Web Service API to further abstract the API details. It can be reached at the following URL:

https://remote.mintchipchallenge.com/mintchip/info/json

Example JSON response (if using the Hosted Web Service version of the API):

{
    "id":"1110000000000005",
    "currencyCode":1,
    "balance":7500,
    "creditLogCount":5,
    "debitLogCount":20,
    "creditLogCountRemaining":495,
    "debitLogCountRemaining":480,
    "maxCreditAllowed":50000,
    "maxDebitAllowed":7500,
    "version":"2.6"
}

What is it?
MintChip came out of some of the ongoing R&D efforts of the RCM and its primary goal is to provide the digital equivalent of the minted coins we use every day. I’ve picked out some of the main points listed on their website about the features and goals of MintChip, which are as follows:

• MintChip brings the familiar properties and benefits of cash into the era of the digital economy, enhanced by the simplicity and speed of e-commerce.
• Like coins, MintChip can be used by anyone. There is no age, demographic, banking or credit requirements. MintChip is available to all enabling anyone to transact.
• MintChip allows everyone to pay just like cash. No personal data is exchanged in the transaction, everyone can participate regardless of age or financial status, it is secure and it is instant.
• Unburdened by the need for a proprietary network, MintChip offers a cost effective solution to consumers and merchants and enables easy person-to-person payments.
• Value can be stored and moved quickly, easily and safely over email, software applications, or by physically tapping devices together.
• The MintChip digital currency works on the Internet, in the physical store, on mobile devices, and enables easy person-to-person transactions.
• MintChip payments are instantaneous and irrevocable
• MintChip is designed to facilitate the payment of low value (e.g. less than $10) payments

Example sites are available to show you how to use MintChip either in the MicroSD card format or in the ‘Cloud’ variety, as provided at registration time.

1. DEMO #1 – Merchant site (sample store where you can use MintChip to make small purchases < $10 in value)
2. DEMO #2 – Broker site (sample account manager where you can send money, WesternUnion or Interact E-Transfer style to your local or hosted MintChip accounts)

Here are the steps for those who have received their MintChips for testing (note that this simple test works with Windows only):

1. Once kit arrives, open it up and take out one of the MicroSD cards

2. On your system (I am assuming you have a card reader. If not use the USB dongle that is a card reader via USB) insert the card into the SD Card slot or USB slot depending on if you are using the MicroSD to SD Converter or the MicroSD to USB Dongle.

3. When Windows shows you a message to scan/fix (If this comes up) just ignore it, dont fix it unless you want to risk a possible format of the MicroSD in which case you’ll have to mail back the Mint Chip again to get them to reset it.

4. Download the following 2 apps:
a. Go to downloads page: http://developer.mintchipchallenge.com/downloads.php
b. Go to windows section and download “Windows MintChip Sample” (It should be a zip file) and unzip it to a folder on your system where you will be doing all your mintchip work
c. Go down in the downloads list and select “Windows Browser Plugin (For JavaScript API deployments)” and double click the msi file when it downloads. It will install a program.
d. IN YOUR EMAIL you should have received 2 other MintChips (You get a total of 4 mintchips, 2 for the web (HOSTED) and 2 physical chips) so simply download those from your email and save them into the same working folder you are using for everything. Then in windows double click on one of them and follow the instructions. TAKE NOTE of the passwords from the email they sent you as you will need that to setup each key. Process each key using the wizard and then restart your browser.

5. After Unzipping the app and installing the hosted keys you have now setup your environment for testing. Begin by running the Windows program which will allow you to track your PHYSICAL MintChips (Run program located at YOURMINTCHIPFOLDER/WindowsMintChipSample/Setup/MintChipSample.exe). You should see your mintchip listed there with $100 loaded into it and a transaction list of debits and credits (500/499). Its 499 due to them LOADING $100 credit on it and you should have 500 debit transactions remaining on your mintchip.

6. Now lets complete our first sample transaction so you know how the process works. Make sure you have restarted your browser after the above steps before you continue. Go to http://merchant.mintchipchallenge.com/ and go down to the MintChip Developer Challenge video for $0.10.

7. Select “Pay with Local MintChip” and a popup window should come up showing you the following:

Pay by your MintChip: YOUR_MINTCHIP_ID

Please confirm payment of: $0.10

to: 1210-0000-0000-0004

[http://merchant.mintchipchallenge.com/]

8. Hit OK and you will be taken to a website to watch the video. If you now go to your MintChipSample.exe app and check you should see the balance as $99.90.

Since the two most common use-cases (Merchant Store and E-Transfer) are already implemented, I’ll have to rack my brain to come up with an even better use-case of the MintChip.

 

Conclusion
While I shouldn’t be too facetious, I must say that they didn’t give us a whole lot to work with. That was probably done intentionally, and at least the documentation at the developer site seems to supplement the lack of information in the kit well enough. Some have asked why the RCM doesn’t just use BitCoins instead of creating a new technology. Well Bitcoins (usually represented in the Bitcoin market as currency code BTC) is only one possible currency. We can argue about whether or not BTCs should be a supported currency, however I strongly believe it should not be the only one. Just like we have (or at least should have, some countries may not) freely competing currencies in which to invest our money, we should also be able to perform transactions in any digital currency of our choice.

So it’s definitely a cool initiative, and I certainly appreciate being chosen as one of the developers who get a physical kit. That said, I’m still skeptical about what exactly the intentions are of the Mint. Perhaps Aaron Russo was right when he said the bankers control everything and their ultimate goal is a global government, single religion, unified global currency and micro-chipped population. The so-called “mark of the beast” required to buy and sell. Could the MintChip be a (whether intentional or not) Trojan Horse for the New World Order conspiracy many joke and/or debate about? If Craig Ferguson’s coverage of the project is any indication, maybe we don’t want to find out (see 03:55 into the video):

Either way, I’ll definitely proceed with caution and ensure that there are no sinister applications of anything I’m developing, such as using MintChips to deny a service (i.e. health care) or right (i.e. to buy & sell).

 

 

Related Articles

• A First Look at MintChip’s Hosted API’s Crypto (codekills)
• Canadian Mint To Create Digital Currency (yro.slashdot.org)
• MintChip Challenge Offers Gold Rewards (i-programmer.info)
• Mint promotes digital-chip currency for penniless future (vancouversun.com)
• MintChip Not Just For Ice Cream Anymore (techcitement.com)
• Mint promotes digital-chip currency for penniless future (theprovince.com)
• Canada To Launch Its Own Version Of BitCoin Called MintChip (fastcompany.com)

]]> http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/04/15/unboxing-the-mintchip/feed/ 3 http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/03/09/popcorn-js-embedded-video-semantically-enhanced-content/ http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/03/09/popcorn-js-embedded-video-semantically-enhanced-content/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:34:44 +0000 bcmoney http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/?p=4989

Popcorn.js is an incredibly useful framework for adding timing-based events and/to Semantic metadata to rich content.

Tear gas used against OWS protesters - Image via Wikipedia

 

According to Mozilla: “Popcorn makes video work like the web. We create tools and programs to help developers and authors create interactive pages that supplement video and audio with rich web content, allowing your creations to live and grow online.”

With it, you could even re-create VH1′s famous “popup video” or MuchMusic’s Video-on-trial effect.

 

 

To implement Popcorn with a standard HTML5 video player, the basic structure looks as follows:

<html>
	<head>
	</head>
	<body>
	 <video id="ourvideo" width="300" height="180">
	   <source src="http://videos.mozilla.org/serv/webmademovies/popcornplug.mp4">
	   <source src="http://videos.mozilla.org/serv/webmademovies/popcornplug.ogv">
	   <source src="http://videos.mozilla.org/serv/webmademovies/popcornplug.webm">
	 </video>
	 <div id="footnote"></div>
	  <script src="http://popcornjs.org/code/dist/popcorn-complete.js"></script>
	  <script>
		document.addEventListener( "DOMContentLoaded", function() {
		  var popcorn = Popcorn( "#ourvideo" );
		  popcorn.footnote({
		   start: 2,
		   end: 5,
		   target: "footnote",
		   text: "Pop!"
		 });
	   }, false );
	 </script>
	</body>
</html>

By default Popcorn.js will simply output text (or mixed HTML content) directly to the DOM. To give it more of an authentic “pop-up video” type of feel, I added some CSS effects courtesy of earlier work done by Nicholas Gallagher in Pure CSS Speech Bubbles, as well as some dynamic full-screen video resizing courtesy of WebDesignerWall in Elastic Videos and last but not least, the audio effect for the popup comes from the DailyWav archives.

The resulting CSS was as follows:

  /********************* TOOLTIP *********************/
    .tooltip {    
      position:absolute;
      width:60%;
      padding:15px 30px;
      margin:0;
      color:#fff;
      text-shadow:#123456 1px 1px 1px;
      background:#5a8f00; /* default background for browsers without gradient support */
      /* css3 */
      background:-webkit-gradient(linear, 0 0, 0 100%, from(#b8db29), to(#5a8f00));
      background:-moz-linear-gradient(#b8db29, #5a8f00);
      background:-o-linear-gradient(#b8db29, #5a8f00);
      background:linear-gradient(#b8db29, #5a8f00);
      -webkit-border-radius:10px;
      -moz-border-radius:10px;
      border-radius:10px;
      z-index:1000000;
    }
    
    .tooltip a { color:goldenrod; text-decoration:none; border-bottom:1px dotted #ccc; }
    
    /* display of quote author (alternatively use a class on the element following the blockquote) */
    .tooltip + p { margin:15px 0 2em 85px; font-style:italic; color:grey; }
    .tooltip + p:before { content:" ~ "; }

    /* creates the triangle */
    .tooltip:after {
      content:"";
      position:absolute;
      bottom:-50px;
      left:50px;
      border-width:0 20px 50px 0px;
      border-style:solid;
      border-color:transparent #5a8f00;
      /* reduce the damage in FF3.0 */
      display:block;
      width:0;
    }

    /* Close text (could be an icon) */
    #closeWindow { cursor:pointer; float:right; margin:-15px 10px 2px 5px; color:red; }

  /********************* VIDEO *********************/
    #video {
      width:100%;
      max-width:1280px;
      display:block;
      text-align:center;
      margin:0 auto;
    }
    * html #video #player {
      margin-bottom: 30px;
      margin-bottom: 0;
    }
    #video #player {
      position: relative;
      padding-bottom: 56.25%;
      padding-top: 30px;
      height: 0;
      overflow: hidden;
    }
    #video #player video, 
    #video #player iframe, 
    #video #player object, 
    #video #player embed,
    #video #player applet {
      position: absolute;
      top: 0;
      left: 0;
      width: 100%;
      height: 100%;
      z-index:1;
    }

The resulting JavaScript behavior can be set up as such:

  // capture "CLOSE" click and hide Tooltip
  $(document).ready(function () {
    $('#closeWindow').live('click', function () {
        $(this).parent().parent().hide();
    });
  });
  
  document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function () {
       // Create a popcorn instance by calling the Youtube player plugin (apply to element with id="video-player", and on the specified video URL)
     var popcornVideo = Popcorn.youtube('#player', 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7r2ETi5C1A&autoplay=1');

     // add a footnote at 25 seconds, and remove it at 1 minute and 5 seconds mark
     popcornVideo.footnote({
          'id': 'wikipedia',
          'start': 25,
          'end': 65,
          'target': 'popups',
          'title': 'Tear Gas',
          'text': '
CLOSE
Tear gas,  formally known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (from lacrima  meaning "a tear" in Latin), is a non-lethal chemical compound that  stimulates the corneal nerves in the eyes to cause tearing, pain, and  even blindness. Common lachrymators include OC, CS, CR, CN, nonivamide,  bromoacetone, phenacyl bromide, xylyl bromide and  syn-propanethial-S-oxide (from onions). Lacrymators often share the  structural element Z=C-C-X, where Z indicates carbon or oxygen, and X  indicates bromide or chloride.
',
          'top': '10%',
          'left': '70%'        
     });

     // play the video right away
     popcornVideo.play();
     
  }, false);

Lastly, the HTML structure should look something like this:

    <section id="semantic-video">
      <article id="contextual-info">
        <div id="overlayDiv"></div>
        <div id="overlayDiv-Map"></div>
        <div id="popups"></div>      
      </article>
      <article id="video">
        <div id="player"></div>
      </article>
    </section>  

 

Check it out in action with YouTube below, using a video that provides a contextual popup about protest footage from Occupy Wall Street, which in this case really adds a chilling effect and helps feel a sense of injustice committed towards the Occupy Oakland protesters (by displaying the definition of “tear gas” from Wikipedia alongside the YouTube clip of the news footage where they lightly gloss over the fact that tear gas may have been released):

DEMO
Popcorn.js - YouTube

-or-

DOWNLOAD
Popcorn.js - YouTube (fullscreen)

 

Related articles

• #MozFest – Build ‘social video’ using Popcorn Maker (blogs.journalism.co.uk)
• Popcorn Framework Brings Interactive Video To The People’s Choice Awards (reelseo.com)
• Semantic Web In Action – Triplify | David Kuhta (davidkuhta.com)
• The Semantic Line Interface (developers.slashdot.org)
• Suggest semantic tags for short snippets of text (stackoverflow.com)
• Mozilla Reinvents Web Video With Popcorn 1.0 (webmonkey.com)

]]> http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/03/09/popcorn-js-embedded-video-semantically-enhanced-content/feed/ 3 http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/02/01/cross-browser-social-media-sharing-tool/ http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/02/01/cross-browser-social-media-sharing-tool/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:50:13 +0000 bcmoney http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/?p=5087

Image via Wikipedia

Social media has taken over the web (for now) and the name of the game is sharing, something legislation like SOPA and PIPA just didn’t seem to understand. Rather than figuring out a new economic model based on the reality of sharing on the web, that rewards this type of activity (which is essentially just a more trackable form of “word-of-mouth” advertising, the best kind of promotion for any product, service or brand), instead these legislative measures simply try to take us back to the stone-age by applying a “copyright theft” label to anything as mundane and innocent as posting a link to potentially copyrighted materials. Well, whether bureaucrats and greedy corporate execs approve of the idea or not, the culture of sharing that the internet has bred is definitely here to stay!

In these days of non-stop distractions and the constant bombardment of messages towards the average internet user, you (i.e. your website, or your brand) absolutely have to have a presence at least somewhere in the endless streams of information available via the leading social media sources. That’s not just the typical “Social Media marketer” hype but a sadly true statement. Believe me, I really wish it weren’t true, but just look at these figures and the infographic to the right showing time spent logged in to the major Social Networks and Social Media sites:

Here is where I should admit that I could have just started off this post with saying “use a third party sharing service” and been done with it. Let me clearly state now that yes, I do realize there are many services out there that can provide you this kind of utility out-of-the-box, within a few clicks and simply agreeing to their terms then completing the sign up. The two that come to mind are ShareThis and AddThis (both of which I have no personal interest or stake in, aside from having been a user of each in the past, on different sites).

However, with any third party service, you are effectively giving them access to your data, and depending on the amount of code involved in running their solutions, may also be opening up potential security risks by including third-party JavaScript. Last but not least, and most significantly, as with any third party service, you never want to rely on them too much. I’ve learned this the hard way, especially of late with Google’s increasingly frequent acquisitions of promising startups, which turn out to be buy-to-fry (as in buy to remove a competitor’s product from the market completely), or buy to discard (otherwise leave to collect dust or stop adding new features but keep a service running, in order to prevent any future direct competition). Two that come to mind are Aardvark (a community-powered Question & Answer service) and Apture (a community blogging and website enhancement tool), the former of which is still alive thus falls into the “collect dust” pattern, and the latter of which was discontinued to be integrated into the Google behemoth or lost to the annals of internet history forever.

Also, expect a similar post to this one discussing how to build a simple Apture alternative next month!
Sharing Tools and Badges are organized by content type below:

 

SOCIAL NETWORKING

Google+ (docs):

This produces the following button:

Facebook (docs):

<script type="text/javascript">// 

This produces the following button:

MySpace (docs):

This produces the following button:

LinkedIN (docs):

<script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script>

This produces the following button:

 

DISCOVERY

Twitter (docs):

Tweet
<script type="text/javascript">// 

This produces the following button:
Tweet

StumbleUpon (docs):

<su:badge layout="5">
 
<script type="text/javascript"> 
 (function() { 
     var li = document.createElement('script'); li.type = 'text/javascript'; li.async = true; 
      li.src = 'https://platform.stumbleupon.com/1/widgets.js'; 
      var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(li, s); 
 })(); 
</script>

This produces the following button:

 

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

Reddit (docs):

<script type="text/javascript">// 
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.reddit.com/static/button/button3.js"></script>

This produces the following button:

Digg (docs):

<script type="text/javascript">// 

This produces the following button:

Delicious (docs):

This produces the following button:

 

VIDEOS

*YouTube offers two methods:

1. Using a YouTube-provided private email/MMS address: 012356789@mms.youtube.com (could be used in mailto: link but can only be visible to that user or falls outside of YouTube’s usage terms)
2. API-based Authentication, using one of YouTube’s several video upload API methods

Tumblr (docs):

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.tumblr.com/v1/share.js"></script>

<span id="tumblr_button_abc123"></span>

<script type="text/javascript">
    var tumblr_video_embed_code = "";
    var tumblr_video_caption = "";
</script>

<script type="text/javascript">
    var tumblr_button = document.createElement("a");
    tumblr_button.setAttribute("href", "http://www.tumblr.com/share/video?embed=" + encodeURIComponent(tumblr_video_embed_code) + "&caption=" + encodeURIComponent(tumblr_video_caption));
    tumblr_button.setAttribute("title", "Share on Tumblr");
    tumblr_button.setAttribute("style", "display:inline-block; text-indent:-9999px; overflow:hidden; width:81px; height:20px; background:url('http://platform.tumblr.com/v1/share_1.png') top left no-repeat transparent;");
    tumblr_button.innerHTML = "Share on Tumblr";
    document.getElementById("tumblr_button_abc123").appendChild(tumblr_button);
</script>

This produces the following button:

 

IMAGES

*Flickr offers two methods:

1. Using a Flickr-provided private email address: private-email@flickr.com (could be used in mailto: link but can only be visible to that user or falls outside of Flickr’s usage terms)
2. API-based Authentication, using flickr photo upload API method

Imgur (docs):

<script>
    function share(imgURL, title) {
    var canvas = document.getElementById('imgur');
    var cxt = canvas.getContext('2d');
    var img = new Image();
    img.src = imgURL;
    cxt.drawImage(img,0,0);
    try {
        img = canvas.toDataURL('image/jpeg', 0.9).split(',')[1];
    } catch(e) {
        img = canvas.toDataURL().split(',')[1];
    }
  var fd = new FormData();
  fd.append("title", title);
  fd.append("image", img); // Append the file
  fd.append("key", "b57e00e47959b75db230afc1a609acef");
    console.log('Uploading...');
  var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
  xhr.open("POST", "http://api.imgur.com/2/upload.json");
  xhr.onload = function() {
    document.getElementById('imgur_page') = 'Image uploaded to: ' + JSON.parse(xhr.responseText).upload.links.imgur_page;
   }
   xhr.send(fd);
 }
</script>

This produces the following button:

 

MUSIC

*Last.FM Scrobbler (docs):
The only option here for scrobbling from your app is to go through the full authentication flow and generate a timestamped auth token which temporarily grants permission to post an update to the user’s account. This can only be a textual update about a particular artist/album/track combination that was listened to, as Last.FM is not an audio file hosting service, thus this will not help if you’re looking for a one-click audio file host.

SoundCloud (docs):

This produces the following button:

* = Requires oAuth or another proprietary Authentication mechanism to be followed before content can be shared or posted to the service.

 

A demo of all these Social Media buttons and Sharing Tools in action is included below (along with download so you could run it on your own servers).

DEMO
Cross-Platform Social Media Sharing Tool

-OR-

DOWNLOAD
Cross-Platform Social Media Sharing Tool

Embed it as follows:

<iframe src="http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/widgets/share/" frameborder="0" scrolling="no">
<script src="http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/widgets/share/share.js"></script>
</iframe>

You can pass in the following parameters:

Parameter

Name	Description	Example
url	URL of the item being shared	?url=http://example.com/articles/how-to-be-cool
title	*Textual short title of the item being shared	&title=How%20To%20Be%20Cool
desc	*Textual long-form description of the item being shared	&desc=This%20is%20an%20interesting%20look%20into%20the%20art%20of%20being%20cool.
image	Image file URL to pass to Imgur or other Image-sharing service	&image=http://example.com/images/1.jpg
audio	Audio file URL to pass to SoundCloud or other Sound-sharing service	&audio=http://example.com/sounds/interview1.wav
video	Video embed code to pass to Tumblr, Blog, etc	&video=%3Ciframe%20allowtransparency%3D%22true%22%20scrolling%3D%22no%22%20marginwidth%3D%220%22%20marginheight%3D%220%22%20frameborder%3D%220%22%20width%3D%22600%22%20height%3D%22500%22%20src%3D%22http://example.com/clips/howtocool-promo.mp4%22%3E%3C%2Fiframe%3E

(*URL encoded, except for URL root)

 

Lastly, I added the both the options of switching to a vertical layout (pass parameter width=0px, in fact any width between 0-75 will attempt to use a vertical layout instead if it renders properly in your browser) or alternatively can hide the icons altogether (pass parameter width=0) in order to avoid having too much clutter and giving your users social media overload. The hover-able icon is courtesy of the open source ShareIcons project, which is sponsored by ShareThis.

 

 

Related Articles

• Apture sale (bumblebeelabs.com)
• Americans Spend 23% of Internet Time on Social Networks [STUDY] (mashable.com)
• More Time Than Ever Spent on Facebook, Watching TV & Video (ooyala.com)
• Social Media Digest: McFail, Snickers Own Goal & More (umpf.co.uk)
• Google buys two Bay Area startups — Katango and Apture (mercurynews.com)
• Got a Social Media personality? Are you a ! or . or or LMAO kind of poster…? (bizcommunicator.wordpress.com)
• Want to Sell with Social Media? Get Back to Basics (revenews.com)

 

]]> http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/02/01/cross-browser-social-media-sharing-tool/feed/ 1 http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/01/23/5020/ http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/01/23/5020/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:30:56 +0000 AmyLewis http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/?p=5020

Image via Wikipedia

If you are an entrepreneur, you might often get confused about when to raise venture capital as against venture debt. This is because these two words have very thin
margin of convergence which raises the misconceptions in the first place. The basic difference between venture debt and venture capital is that the debt you have taken must be repaid. Venture capitalists are also very much interested in getting back their capital along with a profit. Most of the times distinction between the repayment of venture debt and the liquidity needs of venture capital blurs due to some current market dynamics. To most skeptics think that managing debt and repaying them back in a venture debt is a lot different from a venture capitalist hoping to get their money back. Here are some points that will help you better to understand the difference and similarities between venture debt and venture capital.

• Venture debt usually has a straight period of time where the emerging growth company pays just the interest rate that is required on the debt. Theoretically the tech company begins making the payment on the principal at the end of this interest-only period. It has been noticed recently that most companies are making aggressive negotiations regarding extending of their interest-only period. This has been done by sometimes even refinancing the loan with another lender. If the company suffers a loss ultimately then the last lender who has the interest only debt is the one who suffers loss. Usually an unpaid debt is a semi-permanent part of the balance sheet of a company.

• When venture capitalists are raising a new fund, they would, in all probability require liquidity events. In case the company gains success at a slower pace than was planned, the venture capitalist might want to do a dividend recap in order to get liquidity. The tech company usually declares a dividend and pays cash out to investors. Usually the source of these funds for the dividends is venture debt. When dividends are paid, equity is not anymore the permanent capital that it initially appeared to be.

The question of concern here is that if the line between debt and equity is so thinned, how an entrepreneur will be able to find out the right strategy for his business. Usually equity should be raised when you would require a financing for more than 4 years and when the flow of cash is highly volatile. You can consider other debt options which are less dilutive when your business expects future cash flows or even liquidity events in a span of 2 or 3 years. you should also see to it that the debt service payments is not more than 30% of the burn rates if future equity investors want to use their cash to grow their business.

 
 

Related Articles

• Capitalists: Venture vs. Vulture (my.firedoglake.com)
• VC investment rose 10% in 2011, & web companies grabbed the lion’s share (venturebeat.com)
• What Makes A Good Venture Capitalist? Don’t Be Afraid To Look Into The Abyss (blogs.wsj.com)
• Six Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Seeking Venture Capital (entrepreneur.com)
• A Bed Time Story Venture Capitalists Tell Their Children (smallbiztrends.com)
• FinancialSuccessInstitute.org Exposes How Self Directed IRA Rules Allow Everyday Investors to Become Venture Capitalists (prweb.com)

]]> http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/01/23/5020/feed/ 0 http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/01/11/iscroll-with-html5-video-pauseresume/ http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/2012/01/11/iscroll-with-html5-video-pauseresume/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:43:27 +0000 bcmoney http://bcmoney-mobiletv.com/blog/?p=4976

Image via Wikipedia

iScroll 4 is the latest version and release of an excellent content slider-type JavaScript component by Matteo Spinelli. While one may argue that content sliders are a dime a dozen, iScroll differs in the fact that it has full support for all the main WebKit for iOS gestures including pinch/zoom, pull-up/pull-down, smooth scrolling and screen orientation resizing; while also allowing customizable scrollbars, automatic carousels, and much more.

Out of the box though, the automatic scrolling takes some hacking to get working right with an interactive component (such as an HTML5 or Flash video player), as if you activate the scrolling on an interval, it will continue to scroll even when a user is trying to interact with some component inside the active list item. To get around this, you’ll have to temporarily deactivate the scrolling and then reactivate it when the user has finished interacting.

Here is an example, starting with the basic HTML structure:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=0, minimum-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style" content="black">
<title>iScroll demo: Carousel</title> 
<script type="text/javascript" src="iscroll.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Laws of Robotics</h1>
<div id="wrapper">
	<div id="scroller">
		<ul id="thelist">
			<li><strong>1.</strong> <em>A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.</em><div id="player"></div></li>
			<li><strong>2.</strong> <em>A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.</em></li>
			<li><strong>3.</strong> <em>A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.</em></li>
			<li><strong>4. Lyuben Dilov's 4th law:</strong> <em>A robot must establish its identity as a robot in all cases.</em></li>
      <li><strong>5. Zeroth Law:</strong> <em>A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.</em></li>
		</ul>
	</div>
</div>
<div class="clear">
</div>
<div id="nav">
	<div id="prev" onclick="myScroll.scrollToPage('prev', 0);return false">←</div>
	<ul id="indicator">
		<li class="active" onclick="myScroll.scrollToPage(0, 0);return false">1</li>
		<li onclick="myScroll.scrollToPage(1, 0);return false">2</li>
		<li onclick="myScroll.scrollToPage(2, 0);return false">3</li>
		<li onclick="myScroll.scrollToPage(3, 0);return false">4</li>
		<li onclick="myScroll.scrollToPage(4, 0);return false">5</li>
	</ul>
	<div id="next" onclick="if (myScroll.currPageX < document.getElementById('indicator').getElementsByTagName('li').length-1) { myScroll.scrollToPage('next', 0); } return false">→</div>
</div>
<br/><br/>
<button id="play" name="play" onclick="playVideo();">Play</button>
<button id="pause" name="pause" onclick="pauseVideo();">Pause</button>
<button id="resume" name="resume" onclick="resumeVideo();">Resume</button>
<button id="stop" name="stop" onclick="stopVideo();">Stop</button>
</body>
</html>

The following CSS can be used to style the carousel slider:

<style type="text/css" media="all">
body,ul,li { padding:10px; margin:0 }
body { font-size:12px; -webkit-user-select:none; -webkit-text-size-adjust:none; font-family:helvetica }

#wrapper {
	width:300px;
	height:160px;
	float:left;
	position:relative;	/* On older OS versions "position" and "z-index" must be defined, */
	z-index:1;			/* it seems that recent webkit is less picky and works anyway. */
	overflow:hidden;
	background:#aaa;
	-webkit-border-radius:10px;
	-moz-border-radius:10px;
	-o-border-radius:10px;
	border-radius:10px;
	background:#e3e3e3;
}

#scroller {
	width:2100px;
	height:100%;
	float:left;
	padding:0;
}

#scroller ul {
	list-style:none;
	display:block;
	float:left;
	width:100%;
	height:100%;
	padding:0;
	margin:0;
	text-align:left;
}

#scroller li {
	-webkit-box-sizing:border-box;
	-moz-box-sizing:border-box;
	-o-box-sizing:border-box;
	box-sizing:border-box;
	display:block; 
  float:left;
	width:300px; 
  height:160px;
	text-align:center;
	font-family:georgia;
	font-size:18px;
	line-height:140%;
}

#nav {
	width:300px;
	float:left;
  display:block;
}

#prev, #next {
	float:left;
	font-weight:bold;
	font-size:14px;
	padding:5px 0;
	width:80px;
}

#next {
	float:right;
	text-align:right;
}

#indicator, #indicator > li {
	display:block; float:left;
	list-style:none;
	padding:0; margin:0;
}

#indicator {
	width:110px;
	padding:12px 0 0 30px;
}

#indicator > li {
	text-indent:-9999em;
	width:16px; 
  height:16px;
	-webkit-border-radius:8px;
	-moz-border-radius:8px;
	-o-border-radius:8px;
	border-radius:8px;
	background:#ddd;
	overflow:hidden;
	margin-right:4px;
}

#indicator > li.active {
	background:#f96f10;
}

#indicator > li:last-child {
	margin:0;
}

#indicator > li:hover {
	cursor:pointer;
	background:#333;
}

.clear { clear:both }
</style>

The following JavaScript needs to be loaded in the head or as the first script element before other scripts at the bottom of the page, as it sets up the iScroll carousel scroller:

<script type="text/javascript">
var myScroll;

function loaded() {
	myScroll = new iScroll('wrapper', {
		snap: true,
		momentum: false,
		hScrollbar: false,
		onScrollEnd: function () {
			document.querySelector('#indicator > li.active').className = '';
      if (this.currPageX < document.getElementById('indicator').getElementsByTagName('li').length) {
        document.querySelector('#indicator > li:nth-child(' + (this.currPageX+1) + ')').className = 'active';
      }
		}
	 });
}

document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', loaded, false);
var autoscrolling = self.setInterval("doScroll()",5000);

function doScroll() {
  if (myScroll.currPageX < document.getElementById('indicator').getElementsByTagName('li').length-1) {
    myScroll.scrollToPage('next', 0);
  }
  else {
    myScroll.scrollToPage(0, 0);
  }
}
</script>

Lastly, the following JavaScript enables controlling the Video player and pausing/resuming the HTML5 video player (as well as the scroller while viewing the video):

<script type="text/javascript">
//plays video from the start (by destroying and recreating the player)
function playVideo() {
  window.clearInterval(autoscrolling);
  document.getElementById('player').innerHTML = '<video width="125" height="65" preload="auto" poster="http://d1p69vb2iuddhr.cloudfront.net/assets/www/demo/midnight_sun_800-4ae4131d9bcd01bbf933f6efa9066bde.jpg" id="single_video" tabindex="0"><source src="http://media.jilion.com/videos/demo/midnight_sun_sv1_360p.mp4"></source><source data-quality="hd" src="http://media.jilion.com/videos/demo/midnight_sun_sv1_720p.mp4"></source><source src="http://media.jilion.com/videos/demo/midnight_sun_sv1_360p.webm"></source><source data-quality="hd" src="http://media.jilion.com/videos/demo/midnight_sun_sv1_720p.webm"></source></video>';
  document.getElementById('single_video').play();  
}

function pauseVideo() {
  autoscrolling = window.setInterval('doScroll()',8000); 
  document.getElementById('single_video').pause();
}

function resumeVideo() {
  window.clearInterval(autoscrolling);
  document.getElementById('single_video').play();
}

function stopVideo() {  
  autoscrolling = window.setInterval('doScroll()',8000); 
  document.getElementById('single_video').pause();
  document.getElementById('single_video').src = '';
}
</script>

That’s it for this quick tutorial!

NOTE: when running this demo on a regular Desktop rather than a touch-enabled device such as a tablet or mobile phone, it can be tricky to activate the iScroll swipe. To do so, try clicking-and-holding down on the left and right mouse buttons, then dragging in the direction you want to scroll. This is the default way (for some operating system and browser combinations) to simulate a swipe action.

DEMO
iScroll with HTML5 video

-or-

DOWNLOAD
iScroll with HTML5 video

 

Related articles

• New, More Flexible ScrollView Widget (anscamobile.com)
• Does anyone know of a plugin/tool to scroll infinitely through a list of words? (stackoverflow.com)
• The Developers’ Wish List for HTML5 In 2012 (readwriteweb.com)
• How to implement paging & sorting in MVC 3 , Part 3 – How to use it for scroll loading like twitter (kevww.wordpress.com)
• Thinking Like a Web Designer (android-developers.blogspot.com)
• Parallax scrolling (opensourcewebbdesign.wordpress.com)
• Webkit-overflow-scrolling (yewknee.com)

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