W3C Semantic Web Activity News http://www.w3.org/blog/SW en-EU hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 POWDER Formal Semantics First Working Draft Published http://www.w3.org/blog/SW/2008/07/11/powder_formal_semantics_first_working_dr 2008-07-11T10:09:50Z Ivan Herman Activity news The W3C Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER) Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER): Formal Semantics. This document underpins the Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER). It describes how the relatively simple operational format of a POWDER document can be transformed through two stages, first into a more tightly constrained XML format (POWDER-BASE), and then into an RDF/OWL encoding (POWDER-S) that may be processed by Semantic Web tools. The formal semantics of POWDER are best understood after the reader is acquainted with the Description Resources and Grouping of Resources documents. The W3C Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER) Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER): Formal Semantics. This document underpins the Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER). It describes how the relatively simple operational format of a POWDER document can be transformed through two stages, first into a more tightly constrained XML format (POWDER-BASE), and then into an RDF/OWL encoding (POWDER-S) that may be processed by Semantic Web tools. The formal semantics of POWDER are best understood after the reader is acquainted with the Description Resources and Grouping of Resources documents.

]]> Full RDF Recommendation set translated to French http://www.w3.org/blog/SW/2008/07/03/full_rdf_recommendation_set_translated_t 2008-07-03T10:01:50Z Ivan Herman Activity news Today, with the publication of the French translation of the RDF Test Cases by Jean-Jacques Solari, the whole suite of RDF Recommendations are available in French. In view of the complexity of those documents, the two translators (Xavier Lacot and Jean-Jacques Solari) deserve the community’s thanks… Note that the only other language with a full translation is Hungarian (done by Ernő Pataki), with some documents available in Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Polish, and Russian. Hopefully more will follow… Today, with the publication of the French translation of the RDF Test Cases by Jean-Jacques Solari, the whole suite of RDF Recommendations are available in French. In view of the complexity of those documents, the two translators (Xavier Lacot and Jean-Jacques Solari) deserve the community’s thanks…

Note that the only other language with a full translation is Hungarian (done by Ernő Pataki), with some documents available in Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Polish, and Russian. Hopefully more will follow…

]]> New POWDER drafts published http://www.w3.org/blog/SW/2008/07/02/new_powder_drafts_published 2008-07-02T08:01:45Z Ivan Herman Activity news The W3C Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER) Working Group has published two Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER) Working Drafts: Grouping of Resources and Description Resources. The first document describes how to publish descriptions of multiple resources such as all those available from a Web site. These descriptions are always attributed to a named individual, organization or entity that may or may not be the creator of the described resources. The second publication provides a means for individuals or organizations to create machine-readable descriptions. The W3C Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER) Working Group has published two Protocol for Web Description Resources (POWDER) Working Drafts: Grouping of Resources and Description Resources. The first document describes how to publish descriptions of multiple resources such as all those available from a Web site. These descriptions are always attributed to a named individual, organization or entity that may or may not be the creator of the described resources. The second publication provides a means for individuals or organizations to create machine-readable descriptions.

]]> RDFa is a Candidate Recommendation http://www.w3.org/blog/SW/2008/06/21/rdfa_is_a_candidate_recommendation 2008-06-21T05:14:27Z Ivan Herman Activity news The Semantic Web Deployment Working Group and XHTML2 Working Group have published a Candidate Recommendation of RDFa in XHTML: Syntax and Processing. Web documents contain significant amounts of structured data, which is largely unavailable to tools and applications. When publishers can express this data more completely, and when tools can read it, a new world of user functionality becomes available, letting users transfer structured data between applications and web sites, and allowing browsing applications to improve the user experience. RDFa is a specification for attributes to be used with languages such as HTML and XHTML to express structured data. See the groups' RDFa implementation report (although this document is still evolving as new implementations come in). The Working Groups also updated the companion document RDFa Primer. A set of RDFa technology buttons have also been published, linked in from the Semantic Web logos' index page. RDFa technology button (in blue)
The Semantic Web Deployment Working Group and XHTML2 Working Group have published a Candidate Recommendation of RDFa in XHTML: Syntax and Processing. Web documents contain significant amounts of structured data, which is largely unavailable to tools and applications. When publishers can express this data more completely, and when tools can read it, a new world of user functionality becomes available, letting users transfer structured data between applications and web sites, and allowing browsing applications to improve the user experience. RDFa is a specification for attributes to be used with languages such as HTML and XHTML to express structured data. See the groups' RDFa implementation report (although this document is still evolving as new implementations come in). The Working Groups also updated the companion document RDFa Primer.

A set of RDFa technology buttons have also been published, linked in from the Semantic Web logos' index page.

]]> New SW Case Study: help in automobile development http://www.w3.org/blog/SW/2008/06/15/new_sw_case_study_help_in_automobile_dev 2008-06-15T09:29:28Z Ivan Herman Activity news A group of experts from Audi, Achievo Inproware, and ontoprise published a new Semantic Web Use Case, as part of the SW Case Study and Use Case collection. It describes a system used for the simulation of car electronics systems, helping the development of new electronics components. An interesting aspect, from the Semantic Web point of view, is the way knowledge from various IT systems, users, engineers, etc., could be integrated using a combination of domain specific ontologies and rules. A group of experts from Audi, Achievo Inproware, and ontoprise published a new Semantic Web Use Case, as part of the SW Case Study and Use Case collection. It describes a system used for the simulation of car electronics systems, helping the development of new electronics components. An interesting aspect, from the Semantic Web point of view, is the way knowledge from various IT systems, users, engineers, etc., could be integrated using a combination of domain specific ontologies and rules.

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