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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
  • To: Permaculture Database <pcdb@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [pcdb] The Semantic Web as a development platform for a global permaculture knowledgebase.
  • Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:00:01 -0400


My Facebook comments in a thread with a programmer friend at Facebook:
(just winging it here but maybe some of you will find this interesting)

I surely would like to discuss "the link" more. Your statement about Diaspora: "user experience rather than what matters first: the link." is interesting. With privacy and security issues adequately addressed then a social network can "link" user's content to external resoirces. Google search engine indexing of this content is one example and another is using something like the Semantic Web to make this content portable so that it can be merged with that of users to help build topical "databases", wikis (like Mediawiki utilizing Semantic Mediawiki (I have both of these installed for my eventual use in webspace I own). Global "databases" serving people by disseminating knowledge about permaculture, natural biointensive agriculture and food production systems, energy, housing, healthcare seed and plant preservation. I participated in a permaculture database, or knowledgebase, project that attempted to build such an online interactive system. We still have a small group interested in working on this project.

"About semantic web, yes it's something I want to see more and more. The project Refuge is actually towards that approach as well. Even if it's more oriented towards datasets and their use."

When you mentioned linking I thought of external linking, i.e. html rather than internal or "hyper" links (#, etc.) but of course that is just as important. Our PC DB project hoped to use advanced web protocols to enable portability of ours and others' respective knoledgebases so that all sites would benefit from data stored at any individual knowledgebase. We started with PHP/MySQL and then went to a wiki, Mediawiki. The staff at ibiblio installed Mediawiki and Semantic Mediawiki for me in my webspace there (www.ibiblio.org/permaculture). There are several people in my permaculture mailing list who are still interested in this project.

Using the Semantic Web as a development platform for a global permaculture and home and market food production knowledgebase you would have both backward and forward compatibility when bringing existing systems or sites on board to be included in cross-site data sharing. I am not a programmer so am just winging it. I just found this interesting article at: http://www.bio-itworld.com/BioIT_Article.aspx?id=47646.... "At its best, the Semantic Web aspires to enable enhanced intelligent connectivity between all forms of data and information available in a user’s work environment (see “Masters of the Semantic Web,” October 2005 Bio-IT World, page 28). Its vision of simple and direct access to knowledge, both within and outside the organization, has the potential to accelerate and add knowledge to decision making with little or no need to know or understand where data or information is physically located and what form it is in." Also: Social networks and the Semantic Web
By Peter Mika at Google Books (url too long to post here). And also: "The idea of a 'semantic web' — this notion of adding machine-readable tags to web pages so that a computer can read and 'understand' the text and data — has been around for years." http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060522/full/news060522-21.html and ""the device formerly known as the mobile phone". The imminence of wireless broadband for mobiles means we are about to enter the phase of mobile and ubiquitous computing. It is also going to bring the Internet to the hundreds of millions of people who have no Internet access. We are talking now about creating mobile phones — devices — for $15 dollars apiece.".
Semantic Web at the Cusp of Reality - Bio-IT World
www.bio-itworld.com

LL




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