Session X: EasyRDF

Session Organizers:

Session Title: Toward Easier RDF

Abstract:

The value of RDF has been well proven, in many applications, over the 20+ years since it was first created. At the same time, a painful reality has emerged: the RDF ecosystem is too hard for *average* developers. This session will address RDF ease-of-use head-on, as a community effort. Guiding principles:

  1. The goal is to make RDF -- or some RDF-based successor -- easy enough for *average* developers (middle 33%), who are new to RDF, to be consistently successful.
  2. Solutions may involve anything in the RDF ecosystem: standards, tools, guidance, etc. All options are on the table.
  3. Backward compatibility is highly desirable, but *less* important than ease of use.

This is an interactive session. We will further collect, document and rank issues with the RDF ecosystem that are barriers to use, and discuss potential approaches to address these issues. All participants are welcome, from novice to expert.

Tentative program (90 minutes):

NOTE: Participants are encouraged to review the EasierRDF github site in advance: https://github.com/w3c/EasierRDF

 

  • Introductions, problem background (~10 min)
  • Update from the W3C Workshop on Web Standardization for Graph Data: https://www.w3.org/Data/events/data-ws-2019/cfp.html (~5 min)
  • Review of top issues, including:
    • N-ary relations
    • Moribundity of tools
    • Blank nodes
    • SPARQL-friendly lists
    • Higher-level RDF language
  • Evaluation of main proposals (discussion)
    • Standardizing N3 rules
    • RDF entry point website
    • New higher-level RDF language
    • Standardizing Skolem URIs for blank nodes
  • Roadmap forward
  • Next steps