Last two weeks were full of great links and resources, here you are:

Typography

• Linux Libertine is a community driven Open Fonts project, delivering alternative font families and styles to fonts like Times New Roman, Linux Libertine and its tools are released under GPL/OFL licenses. The fonts cover the codepages of Western Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, IPA and many more. Furthermore, typographical features such as ligatures, small capitals, different number styles, scientific symbols, etc. are implemented in this font. Linux Libertine thus contains more than 2000 characters.

Semantic Web & Data

• The ESWC discusses the latest scientific results and technology innovations around semantic technologies, some of the ESWC 2012 video lectures and keynotes are available, around the topics Social Web, Linked Data, Machine Learning, Semantic Web in Use, Natural Language Processing and Information Retrieval.
• The Data Hub is a community-run catalogue of useful sets of data on the Internet. You can collect links here to data from around the web for yourself and others to use, or search for data that others have collected. Depending on the type of data (and its conditions of use), the Data Hub may also be able to store a copy of the data or host it in a database, and provide some basic visualisation tools.

Social Web

• Ryan Barret built some open-sourced bridges of Salmon, ActivityStreams, PortableContacts and Webfinger for Facebook, Twitter and Google+ that don’t implement it themselves.

Web Development

• Jam is a package manager for JavaScript. It manages library dependencies and it supports automatically optimized custom builds of popular libraries.
• Yeoman is a robust and opinionated client-side stack, comprised of tools and frameworks to support you to create web applications. It helps in scaffolding, compiling CoffeeScript & Compass, linting your scripts, image optimization, build processing, JS package management and unit testing. It isn’t released currently but you can enter your email to get notified if it gets available. Paul Irish spoke about it on Google’s IO 2012 conference.
• On YouTube you can find all videos of the talks done at the EuroPython 2012 conference in Italy.
• Motorola published Montage, a framework for building modern HTML5 web apps by providing modular components, real-time two-way data binding, CommonJS dependency management, and more.

Other Tools

• If you need to convert files from one markup format into another, pandoc is your swiss-army knife. It can convert documents in markdown, reStructuredText, textile, HTML, DocBook, or LaTeX to HTML formats, Word processor formats (docx, odt), Epub, DocBook, TeX formats, PDF and Lightweight markup formats.
• The goal of pdf.js is to create a general-purpose, web standards-based platform for parsing and rendering Portable Document Format (PDF) without native code assistance. It is community-driven and supported by Mozilla Labs.
• Some of you read about Svbtle. There is a unofficial Wordpress theme to create the Svbtle feeling on administration/writing and viewing your blog. The theme misses the responsiveness of the original Svbtle layout but as the theme is open source, you can add it and push it back to the project owner.
• Adobe published Brackets, an open source code editor for the web, written in JavaScript, HTML and CSS.

(Source: delicious.com)

How to work with Linked Data and RDF data in Javascript? Use JSON, the well known object notation. The W3C JSON for Linking Data Community Group published a bulk of new JSON-LD drafts and calls for final group specification commitments.

• JSON-LD Syntax 1.0: JSON-LD is designed as a lightweight syntax that can be used to express Linked Data. It is primarily intended to be a way to use Linked Data in Javascript and other Web-based programming environments.The syntax does not necessarily require applications to change their JSON, but allows one to easily add meaning by simply adding or referencing a context. (Call for Final Specification Commitments)
• JSON-LD API 1.0: JSON-LD may be used to express Linked Data in JSON. Often, it is useful to be able to transform JSON-LD documents so that they may be easily processed in a programming environment like JavaScript, Python or Ruby. Compaction, expansion and RDF conversion are discussed in this document. (http://www.w3.org/community/json-ld/2012/06/27/call-for-final-specification-commitments-for-json-ld-api-1-0/)
• JSON-LD Framing API 1.0: a JSON-LD document is a representation of a directed graph. A Frame can be used by a developer on a JSON-LD document to specify a deterministic layout for a graph. This document is a detailed specification for a serialization of Linked Data in JSON.
• RDF Graph Normalization: this document outlines an algorithm for generating a normalized RDF graph given an input RDF graph. Beside software developers the documents is primarily intended for masochists :)

(Source: twitter.com)

I know, it is not really a info graphic but the term ‘research project poster’ is not that ‘en vogue’ in the web :) I made it last week as a last-minute-job for the LOD2 lifecycle. Sebastian Tramp is currently at the ESWC 2012 in Crete, attending there at the EU Project networking track to represent the LOD2 project.

The lifecycle is taken from the slides “The Semantic Data Web” by Sören Auer from AKSW/Uni Leipzig. Text was also written by Sören. As the explanations on the poster aren’t that big, I add the texts here:

Linked Open Data Lifecycle

The lifecycle is supported by tools of the the Debian-based LOD2 Stack.

Extraction

RDF is the lingua franca for data integration on the Web. Other data structures, semi-structured and even unstructured information, however, are and will be always there as well. In LOD2 we develop techniques for mapping and accessing such information efficiently and effectively.

Tools: Triplify, D2R Server, DBpedia Extraction

Storage

RDF Data Mangement is still more challenging than relational Data Mangement. We aim to close this performance gap by employing column-store technology, dynamic query optimization, adaptive caching of joins, optimized graph processing, cluster/cloud scalability.

Tools: Openlink Virtuoso

Authoring

LOD2 facilitates the authoring of rich semantic knowledge bases, by leveraging Semantic Wiki technology, the WYSIWIM paradigm (What You See Is What You Mean) and distributed social, semantic collaboration and networking techniques.

Tools: OntoWiki, RDFaCE Text Annotation, Poolparty Taxonomy Editor

Interlinking

Creating and maintaining links in a (semi-)automated fashion is still a major challenge and crucial for establishing coherence and facilitating data integration. We aim at linking approaches yielding high precision and recall, which configure themselves automatically or based on end-user feedback.

Tools: Silk, LIMES, SemFM

Enrichment

Linked Data on the Web is mainly raw instance data. For data integration, fusion, search and many other applications, however, we need this raw instance data to be linked and integrated with upper level ontologies.

Tools: DL-Learner

Quality

The quality on the Data Web is varying as the quality on the document web varies. LOD2 develops techniques, which help to assess the quality based on characteristics such as provenance, context, coverage or structure.

Tools: WIQA, LODStats, LDIF Data Integration

Evolution

Data on the Web is dynamic. We need to facilitate the evolution of data while keeping things stable. Changes and modifications to knowledge bases, vocabularies and ontologies should be transparent and observable. LOD2 also develops methods to spot problems in knowledge bases and to automatically suggest repair strategies.

Tools: ORE, OntoWiki EvoPat

Exploration

For many users Data Web is still invisible below the surface. LOD2 develops search, browsing, exploration and visualization techniques for different kinds of Linked Data (i.e. spatial, temporal, statistic), which make the Data Web sensible for real users.

Tools: CubeViz, Sig.ma EE, Spatial Semantic Browser

LOD2 Project

LOD2 is a large-scale integrating project co-funded by the European Commission within the FP7 Information and Communication Technologies Work Programme. Started 2010 it is planned for 4 years, comprises leading Linked Open Data technology researchers, companies, and service providers from across 11 European countries and one associated partner from Korea, it is coordinated by the AKSW research group at the University of Leipzig.

This link digest is more like a link huddle, fitting the image that is indeed not a picture take by the NASA, some may recognize it from the 360-degree panoramic image of the Milky Way. Back to the links:

Free WebDev resources

• Underscores starter theme for Wordpress: provied by Automattic — the company behind Wordpress — this theme may be a very good starter to develop own themes or individual templates for your project. I will try it out with my next Wordpress gig.
• Climacons: 75 climatically categorised pictographs for web and user interface designers

Closed proprietary world

• If you ever slip into a situation that you need to install an USB under a Win95 or Win98 and the manufactor’s driver needs Win98SE as minimum, then just try the USB Flash Drive driver for Windows 95 OSR/2.1. It solved my problem :)
• The Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis) is a federal authority of Germany, responsible for collecting, processing, presenting, analysing and provide highly qualitative statistical information for the whole public. I repeat: Destatis is funded by public (taxes) to create statistical data for the public! Now they claim that they are against Linked Open Data because it could be used by too many people: “Wie ich beim Statistischen Bundesamt auf taube Linked-Data-Ohren stieß” (Philipp Baar) (Update May 30, 2012: I’ve fixed the link, it didn’t point to the article)

Geek science

• Something important for your life: if you ever asked yourself why bubbles sink in a settling stout beer then read the research paper “Why do bubbles in Guinness sink?”.
• In The Girl With The ANSI Tattoo the OracleWTF team restored discussed the SQL queries from “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” movie.

Because of my extended weekend in Berlin and at the seaside I did not put together my Link Digest last week, that’s the reason to look back to my top bookmarks of the last two weeks now.

Typography

• The Golden Ratio Typography Calculator helps you to improve your website’s typography by entering your used font size, line-height, width, or characters per line (CPL). The math behind that tool is explained in The Ultimate Guide to Readable Web Typography.
• Thinking with Type: Type is the foundation of print and web design. Everything you need to know about thinking with type, you will find here. This richly detailed update to the classic text belongs on the shelf of every designer, writer, editor, publisher, and client. (Jefferey Zeldman)

Data

• Data Journalism Handbook: This collaborative book coordinated by the European Journalism Centre and the Open Knowledge Foundation aims to answer questions like: Where can I find data? How can I request data? What tools can I use? How can I find stories in data? How can I make data journalism sustainable? Provided under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license you can read it for free as an early beta release, and if you want you may give feedback.
• Linked Data FAQ: Structured Dynamic put together a document with some of the more prominent enterprise questions and answers regarding linked data. Linked data is the first practical expression of the semantic Web, useful and doable today, and applicable to all forms of data.

Javascript

• Addy Osmani worte an article about JavaScript Style Guides And Beautifiers because “Following a consistent style guide both helps enforce this concept and improves the overall quality of the code we write. This facilitates other developers stepping in to assist with maintenance more easily and can certainly save time in the long haul. Readable source code is arguably easier for us to understand as well. It’s easier to browse, locate and fix bugs in and more easy to optimize. It can also give us a clearer picture of how the code fits into a larger body of work.”

(Source: delicious.com)

Web Design & Accessibility Guidelines

• HTML5 Bookmarks is an one pager containing daily news and a bulk of bookmarks to HTML5, CSS3, Javascript and application (mobile) frameworks. A great resource and overview about important and recent projects in that field of work.
• The UK Government Digital Services created a set of 10 design principles how to create accessible digital services, extended by examples for each principle.

Diagrams & Videos

• The Interactive blockdiag shell takes your blockdiag description and creates an SVG diagram and a permalink to your blockdiag for you. Simple, fast, effective.
• With AvxSynth we have a new linux port of AviSynth again, what is great. Year ago, when I used MS Windows, I took AviSynth to create and cut video via frame server and scripting engine, there simply was no need for a fancy buggy GUI. I really missed it after I’ve changed to Linux, and the AviSynth 2 project (what was claiming to support Linux) disappeared. Go, AvxSynth, Go!

Social Semantic Web & Linked Data RWW

• My Profile is the brand new public service hub of the MyProfile Project that intends to provide a solution for managing the numerous accounts and profiles that users have on the Internet. Its main purpose is to provide a unified user account, or simply ‘user profile’, which as opposed to current ‘silo’ profiles, would really be under the user’s control, on a device controlled by the user.
• The Linked Data Basic Profile 1.0 specification is a new submission request to the W3C, defining a set of best practices and a simple approach for a read-write Linked Data architecture, based on HTTP access to web resources that describe their state using RDF. Mainly it specifies use cases and requirements for resources and their containers, describing processes how to handle HTTP GET, POST, PUT; DELETE and PATCH requests on them. The goal is to provide some new rules as well as clarifications and extensions to achieve greater interoperability between Linked Data implementations.

PS: I’m on Geekli.st now! Do you need an invite link?

I’ve joined Geekli.st last week, just for fun. “Geekli.st is an achievement-based social portfolio builder where all bad-ass code monkeys around the globe can communicate, brag, build their street cred and get found. It was time for a united front, exclusively for developers, to build tangible credibility in the workplace.” I have an invite link to the beta program for you, just in case. Join (and maybe follow me) at http://geekli.st/haschek

(Source: delicious.com)

It doesn’t matter how you call it: Semantic Web, Web 3.0, Web of Data, or Internet of Things. Some of them may be synonyms, some of them may be differ in tiny meanings, but all of them are build on resources, their reachable identifiers and relations between those resources: Linked Data. If you put this data into the public space, making it accessible to everyone, you got Linked Open Data, and probably 1 mio ways how people use and combine it, creating new possibilities and advantages.

Europeana has created a video explaining Linked Open Data and its benefits. Europeana utilizes Linked Data for its goals:

Europeana is Europe’s multilingual digital library, museum and archive. It gives people free access to millions of books, paintings, films, sounds, museum objects and archives that have been digitised throughout Europe. Visit europeana.eu and see what you can discover from the collections of over 1,500 organisations, including major international organisations like the Louvre and the British Museum. (Europeana @ Vimeo)

Europeana built up a Linked Open Data space containing

open (licensed under CC0 Public Domain Dedication) metadata on 2.4 million texts, images, videos and sounds gathered by Europeana. These objects come from data providers who have reacted early and positively to Europeana’s initiative of promoting more open data and new data exchange agreements. These collections come from 8 direct Europeana providers encompassing over 200 cultural institutions from 15 countries. (Europeana Linked Open Data)

Based on this data Europeana provides a professional knowledge-sharing platform, as well as a simple search interface to dig deep into all the collected items. One of the items is a matchbox, a piece of the story about Bernard Darley and Otto Arndt, happened during World War One. Europeana created a new project related to WW1, collecting all small items and pieces across Europe to create a bigger picture, even on a personal level like that one of Darley and Arndt:

During World War One, two soldiers became friends. One was German, the other English. This film – ‘Otto & Bernard’ – tells their story. It also features the modern quest of a young German student, trying to discover if she is related to Otto.

The movie itself reminds me a little bit on bad daily soap TV shows but it is a good demonstration how Linked Open Data can affect lives. Without publicly access, Luisa Arndt would never known anything about the matchbox. Even if the story of the movie would be 100% constructed it plots a real world example. The Europeana blog provides some additional info about the movie. The Remix version of that movie makes use of visually inserted links for almost everything (e.g. pictures) in the movie. If you can imagine that a meta description of that movie could contain time codes and relations to all that used images (and the depictured things itself) you now know what Linked Data is.

(Source: techpost)