Skip to main content

The Joy of Data - A Cookbook for Publishing Linked Government Data on the Web

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover Linking Government Data

Abstract

Many governments have recently mandated the open publication of more information to the public, in attempts to facilitate the maintenance of open societies and in support of governmental accountability and transparency initiatives. Publication of structured data on the World Wide Web is in itself insufficient; in order to make use of such data, members of the public can best absorb data when it can be used with other published data. Linked Data approaches address key requirements of open government by providing a family of international standards and best practices for the publication, dissemination and reuse of structured data. Further, Linked Data, unlike previous data formatting and publication approaches, provides a simple mechanism for combining data from multiple sources across the Web. This chapter provides a six-step “cookbook” to model, create, publish and announce government Linked Data. We’ll highlight the role of the World Wide Web Consortium, an international standards organization and its member organizations who are currently driving specifications and best practices for the publication of governmental data. The chapter concludes with guidance on the social contract government agencies implicitly adopt when they publish Linked Data on the Web.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Beckett, D. and Broekstra, J. (2008, January 15). SPARQL Query Results XML Format. W3C Recommendation. Retrieved June 7, 2011 from http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-sparql-XMLres/

    Google Scholar 

  2. Beckett, D. and Berners-Lee, T. (2011, March 28). Turtle - Terse RDF Triple Language. W3C Team Submission. Retrieved June 7, 2011 from http://www.w3.org/TeamSubmission/turtle/

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bergman, M. (2010, October 4). "Dealing with the Four Ps to Broaden Actual Use". Message posted to http://www.mkbergman.com/917/practical-p-p-p-problems-with-linked-data/

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bergman, M. (2011, April 4). "Democratizing Information with Semantics". Retrieved 7 June, 2011 from http://www.mkbergman.com/953/democratizing-information-with-semantics/

    Google Scholar 

  5. Berners-Lee, T. (2009, June 18). Linked Data Design Issues. Retrieved June 18, 2009 from http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html

    Google Scholar 

  6. Berners-Lee, T. (2010, November 15). Keynote. First International Open Government Conference, US Department of Commerce, Washington DC.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bizer, C., Cyganiak, R. and Heath, T. (2008, July 17). How to Publish Linked Data on the Web. Retrieved from http://www4.wiwiss.fu-berlin.de/bizer/pub/LinkedDataTutorial/

    Google Scholar 

  8. Heath, T. and Bizer, C. (2011). Linked Data: Evolving the Web into a Global Data Space (1st edition). Synthesis Lectures on the Semantic Web: Theory and Technology, 1:1, 1–136. Morgan & Claypool, New York. Retrieved 7 June 2011 from

    Google Scholar 

  9. http://linkeddatabook.com/editions/1.0/#htoc11

    Google Scholar 

  10. Cameron, D. (2010, May 31). Letter to Government departments on opening up data. Retrieved June 7, 2011 from http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/statements-andarticles/2010/05/letter-to-government-departments-on-opening-up-data-51204

    Google Scholar 

  11. DuCharme, R. (2011). Learning SPARQL: Querying and Updating with SPARQL 1.1, OReilly Media, Sebastapol, California.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Duerst, M. and Suignard, M. (2005, January). Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs). RFC 3987, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), NetworkWorking Group. Retrieved June 7, 2011 from see http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3987.txt

    Google Scholar 

  13. Forbus, K. and de Kleer, J. (1993). Building Problem Solvers. MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Frantzich, S. and Sullivan, J. (1996). The C-Span Revolution. University of Oklahoma Press.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Geiselman, B. (2006). The States ask EPA to reconsider TRI changes. Waste & Recycling News.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Geddes, P. (1915). Cities in Evolution. Williams, pp. 397. Retrieved 7 June 2011 from http://www.archive.org/details/citiesinevolutio00gedduoft

    Google Scholar 

  17. Hendler, J. and Allemang, D. (2008). Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist: Effective Modeling in RDFS and OWL, Morgan Kaufmann, Waltham, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kundra, V. (2010, November 15). Keynote. International Open Government Conference, http://www.data.gov/conference

    Google Scholar 

  19. Masinter, L., Alvestrand, H., Zigmond, D. and Petke, R. (1999). Guidelines for new URL Schemes. Retrieved 7 June 2011 from http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2718.txt

    Google Scholar 

  20. Meskell, D. (2007). New Opportunities for Involving Citizens in the Democratic Process. GSA no. 20 (Fall): 2–4.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Myers, J. (2009, June 5). Best Buy Local Store Sites Go Semantic With Good Relations Ontology. Message posted to http://jay.beweep.com/2009/06/05/best-buy-local-stores-goessemantic-with-good-relations-ontology/

    Google Scholar 

  22. Myers, J. (2011, April 26). Released! Human Product Discovery via Machines, RDFa and "Shop URLs". Message posted to http://jay.beweep.com/2011/04/26/released-humanproduct-discovery-via-machines-rdfa-and-shop-urls/

    Google Scholar 

  23. Negroponte, N. (1995). Being Digital. Hodder & Stoughton, page 14.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Noveck, B. (2009).Wiki Government: How technology can make government better, democracy stronger, and citizens more powerful. Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Obama, B. (2009, January 20). Transparency and Open Government. Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies. Retrieved June 7, 2011 from http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment/

    Google Scholar 

  26. Sauermann, L. and Cyganiak, R. (2008) Cool URIs for the Semantic Web. W3C Semantic Web Interest Group Note. Retrieved June 7, 2011 from http://www.w3.org/TR/cooluris/

    Google Scholar 

  27. Schaefer, R. (2010, November 15). "Climate Change & SpaceWeather - Critical Needs". First International Open Government Conference, US Department of Commerce,Washington DC.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Styles, R. (2011, April 21). "Choosing URIs is not a five minute task". Message posted to http://blogs.talis.com/platform-consulting/2011/04/21/choosing-uris-not-a-five-minute-task/

    Google Scholar 

  29. UK Cabinet Office (2010, May 10). "Designing URI Sets for the UK Public Sector". Retrieved 7 June 2011 from http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/designing-urisets-uk-public-sector

    Google Scholar 

  30. World Wide Web Consortium (2009, February 7). Guidance on The Self-Describing Web. Finding of the Technical Architecture Group. Retrieved 7 June 2011 from http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/doc/selfDescribingDocuments.html

    Google Scholar 

  31. World Wide Web Consortium (2011, May 10). "Open Web Platform Progress Drives Expanding Industry Interest". Press Release. Retrieved 7 June 2011 from http://www.w3.org/2011/05/membership-pr.html

    Google Scholar 

  32. World Wide Web Consortium (2011, June 6). "Government Linked Data Working Group Charter". Retrieved 7 June 2011 from http://www.w3.org/2011/gld/charter.html

    Google Scholar 

  33. Wood, D. (1999). Programming Internet Email. OReilly&Associates, Sebasapol, California.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Wood, D. (Ed.). (2011). Linking Enterprise Data. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Wood, D. (2011, February 8). Semantic Web Elevator Pitch. Message posted to http://prototypo.blogspot.com/2011/02/semantic-web-elevator-pitch.html

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bernadette Hyland .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Hyland, B., Wood, D. (2011). The Joy of Data - A Cookbook for Publishing Linked Government Data on the Web. In: Wood, D. (eds) Linking Government Data. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1767-5_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1767-5_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-1766-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-1767-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics