Rapid Semantic Web Application Development

This talk previously given at SemTech 2011, San Francisco

By James Leigh

Problem Statement• Start curating data today

• Data model may change tomorrow

• Guided curation

• Web based solution

Data Curation

• Data management

• Adding value to data

• Data sharing for re-use

• Data preservation

Possible Solutions• Roll your own three-tier

• Content Management System

• Wiki-based

• Linked Data Management System

Three Tier Architecture• Easier to replace any single tier

• Separation for better load balancing

• Secure database independently

Three Tier Architecture• Designed for pessimistic databases that are hard to scale

horizontally

• Optimistic layered over pessimistic mechanism

• High upfront costs

• Rigid schema

Three Tier Architecture• Data model changes affect all tiers

• Change your presentation

• Change your processing model

• Change your data schema

Ten Points of Failure• Multiple programming paradigms

• Multiple data models

• XML/JSON, markup, form,

• ORM, OOP, parameters,

• Query/Update and schema

Content Management Systems

• Wordpress

• Drupal

• Joomla!

Content Management System

• Collaboratively share data

• Control access

• Easy storage

• Reduce duplicate

• Improve report writing

• Improve communication

Content Management System

• Many features out of the box

• Compile time extendable

• Rigid data model

Wiki Software

• Media Wiki

• Semantic Media Wiki

Wiki Software

• Collaboratively edit web pages

• Transparency, linking, and a low barrier to entry

• Wikis focus on the content

Wiki Software

• Many features out of the box

• Easy to add new content data

• Unstructured data

• Blank page syndrome

Linked Data Management System

• Allows Web 2.0 developers to build structured hyper linked web applications using a flexible schema

Linked Data Management System

• Easily build hyper linked Web applications

• Edit Content

• Access Control

• Collaboration

• Change Tracking

• Page/form Templates

Linked Data Management System

• Some features out of the box

• Deals with structured data (triples up and down)

• Run time extendable

• Custom data model

Καλλίμαχος of Cyrene

• 305-c. 240 BCE

•Father of Bibliography (The Pinakes) at the Great Library of Alexandria

•Could not categorize his own work in Aristotle's hierarchical system

Web Content• What-You-Mean Editor

• Separates visual presentation and content

• Edit according to meaning and significance

• Not appearance

Easily Edit Resources• Structured guided

resource editing

• Reduce learning curve

• Lower contribution barrier

Access Control• Permissions set on

• Resource class

• Individual resource

• ACL for

• Readers

• Contributors

• Editors

• Administrators

• Permissions propagate to nested resources

Collaboration• Discussion form on

every resource

• Change tracking

• List of who made each change on every resource

Page/Form Builder• Easy to change

• Class hierarchy

• Edit resource layout

• Create resource forms

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