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Web Developer Resource Index: RDF

The Resource Description Framework is a family of XML languages used to describe metadata and the relationships between resources on the WWW. Resources in RDF are defined in terms of a URI. The RDF model is based on a subject, predicate, object expression (triple) about these relationships. The subject of such an expression is the resource, the object is the metadata regarding that resource, and the predicate is the relationship between the two.

This application is full of examples, consider the first resource listed in this category. Two obvious properties of this resource are the title and author. In English, we would state:

The title of http://www.w3.org/RDF/ is Resource Description Framework.
The author of http://www.w3.org/RDF/ is Eric Miller.

If we look closer the second example, the RDF triple consists of:

  1. a subject that is the URI http://www.w3.org/RDF/
  2. an object that is the author Eric Miller
  3. a predicate which is the assertion “the author of”

In the RDF dialect of XML these expressions might be encoded like this:

<rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.w3.org/RDF/"> <dc:title>Resource Description Framework</dc:title> <dc:creator>Eric Miller</dc:creator> </rdf:Description>

Note: the use of "dc.creator" and its namespace (dc). This refers to applying DCMI in these expressions. “Creator” is a broader (and more accurate) term for what I'm using here as author. Also note that the author has a property as well, in most cases a URI to biographical information. This is the essence of the Semantic Web, imagine visiting a search engine and asking a question like “show me the biography for the author who wrote this document.” I certainly wish it worked that way now—creating this database is a lot of work!

Visit Expressing Simple Dublin Core in RDF/XML for more information.

Updated: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006 @ 8:46 PM EST [43]

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Last updated: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006 @ 8:46 PM EST [2006-02-23T01:46:22Z]   home

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