Transcript MS PowerPoint format

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/jisc-cetis-2005/
Lessons Learnt From FOAF:
A Bottom-Up Approach To
Social Networks
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath
Email
[email protected]
About This Talk
This talk introduces FOAF,
describes the advantages &
disadvantages of a grassroots
approach to development and
ponders on the wider
implications.
UKOLN is supported by:
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Contents
• Background – The Semantic Web
• What Is FOAF?
• Relevance Of FOAF To This Conference
And Session
• The Development Culture Behind FOAF
• The Limitations
• Wider Implications
A centre of expertise in digital information management
2
www.ukoln.ac.uk
About The Semantic Web (1)
The Semantic Web:
• Why is it needed?
The Semantic Web is needed is order to
provide a more structured Web in which
resources can be brought together for a
variety of purposes
• What is it?
The Semantic Web can be regarded as a
global distributed database, which can be
developed without central coordination
A centre of expertise in digital information management
3
www.ukoln.ac.uk
About The Semantic Web (2)
The Semantic Web:
• How is it done?
The Semantic Web is an XML application
which contains a simple mathematical
model which defines relationships which
are defined using a URI
• What are the challenges?
The Semantic Web is perceived as difficult
to understand. These apparent difficulties
provide a barrier to its deployment.
A centre of expertise in digital information management
4
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Is It Difficult?
The mathematical model behind the Semantic
Web is based on simple tuples, as illustrated
Brian
knows
Leigh
The relationship ('knows' in this case) is defined at a URI
UKOLN
Brian
DC.Created by
FOAF
paper
Leigh
01225 xxx
Is this really conceptually difficult?www.ukoln.ac.uk
A centre of expertise in digital information management
5
FOAF – A Simple SW Application
FOAF:
•
•
•
•
Stands for "Friend Of A Friend"
Provides structured links about individuals
Information distributed & extensible
Avoids data protection concerns
Leigh's
friend 1
My
friend 1
Me,
email,
work place,
friends
…
Leigh,
email, …
location,
interests
friends
My
friend nA centre of expertise in digital information management
6
Leigh's
friend n
www.ukoln.ac.uk
FOAF Example (1)
AFurther
view of my
Leigh's FOAF
FOAF
file,
information
file,
showing
showing
links
in my
FOAF
his
additional
to
filemy friends
information
FOAF
Explorer
<http://xml.mfd-consult.dk/foaf/explorer/>
A centre of
expertise in -digital
information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
7
FOAF Example (2)
FOAFNaut - <http://www.foafnaut.org/>
A centre of expertise in digital information management
8
www.ukoln.ac.uk
My Aims
SW Promotion
• Promote use of FOAF as a lightweight Semantic
Web application
• Enable people to be part of the Semantic Web
Community-Building
• Use a FOAF application which supports
community-building at events
Implementation
•
•
•
•
Joint work with local FOAF geek (Leigh Dodds)
Development of tools
Use of tools (at IWMW 2004)
Paper presented at IADIS WBC 2004
A centre of expertise in digital information management
9
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Creating FOAF
Several types of FOAF authoring tools provided:
• Do it by hand
• Web-based tools
• Dedicated tools
• A Wiki (experimental)
A centre of expertise in digital information management
10
www.ukoln.ac.uk
A FOAF Application
We've got :
• Powerful standards (RDF/FOAF)
• Simple authoring tools
What we need now is:
• Application area to encourage uptake
• Richer tools for data-mining
Application:
• Who attended JISC-CETIS conf 2004?
• Who's going to JISC-CETIS conf 2005?
• Who's going and is interested in LIP, LOM, real
ale, …
Background:
• Addressed previously but application-specific 
A centre of expertise in digital information management
11
www.ukoln.ac.uk
FOAFNaut
12
FOAFNaut application is being extended to include
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
visualisation
of events data
Review: FOAF And Events
We explored using events (conferences,
seminars, etc.) to promote SW take-up:
• Delegates often want to establish links with
people they meet (cf. use of business cards)
• Encouraging delegates to create their own data
gets them motivated
• This also avoids data protection concerns and
places maintenance of individual
Use at technical conferences also provides:
• Feedback
• Opportunity to get developers engaged in further
work
A centre of expertise in digital information management
13
www.ukoln.ac.uk
What Next?
What can happen next:
• Further promotion of this concept at other events
• Encouragement for additional development:
• Dedicated viewing tools
• Search facilities
• …
Brian
Leigh
IADIS
WBC 2004
A centre of expertise in digital information management
14
XML 2004
Beyond Browsing
Find we people
who attended WBC
2004 and XML
2004 who have an
interest in xxx
www.ukoln.ac.uk
What Happened?
Take-up
• Promoted at IWMW 2004 (flyer in pack)
• But few delegates used (& they were the
techies)
Technologies
• FOAFNaut support for events has still not
been included in main version
• Wiki authoring tool hacked
People
• Develop had other commitments
A centre of expertise in digital information management
15
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Reflections
Some thoughts:
• Privacy issues
• Branding issues ('he's not my friend')
• Getting beyond the early adopters
• Is FOAF more appropriate back-stage
(e.g. export format in Blogs)?
• Do we want shrink-wrapped solutions
(e.g. Orkut)?
• Is the interest in the technology too far
away from users' needs?
• Has FOAF been a failure or a success?
A centre of expertise in digital information management
16
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Discussion
Questions., comments, etc. welcome
A centre of expertise in digital information management
17
www.ukoln.ac.uk