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Resource Description Framework

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Encyclopedia of Database Systems
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Synonyms

RDF

Definition

RDF (Resource Description Framework) is a language for making statements about resources, i.e., for representing metadata [7]. Here, the term resource is intentionally used very broadly in the sense of any entity that can be uniquely identified by a URI (Universal Resource Identifier). This includes traditional web resources (such as web pages or images), as well as physical objects (such as devices) and humans about which the statements are made.

Historical Background

In 1998, Tim Berners-Lee described RDF in his vision for how metadata should be represented on the Semantic Web [4]. The first W3C Recommendation of RDF as a standard for encoding metadata was published in 1999. Several related efforts include the Meta Content Format (MCF) developed at Apple between 1995 and 1997, and the Dublin Core metadata standard [5] originally defined in 1995.

Foundations

Resource Description Framework

RDF is a core component of the layered specification of the semantic web...

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Recommended Reading

  1. Allemang D. and Hendler J. Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist: Modeling in RDF, RDFS and OWL. Morgan Kaufmann, 2008.

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  2. Berners-Lee T. What the semantic web can represent. Available online at: http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/RDFnot.html, 1998.

  3. Brickley D. and Guha R.V. RDF vocabulary description language: RDF schema. W3C recommendation. Available online at: http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/, 2004.

  4. Brickley D. and Miller L. FOAF Vocabulary Specification. Available online at: http://xmlns.com/foaf/spec/, 2007.

  5. Hillman D. Using dublin core. DCMI recommended resource. Available online at: http://dublincore.org/documents/usage guide/, 2005.

  6. Klyne G., Reynolds F., Woordrow C., Ohto H., Hjelm J., Butler M., and Tran L. Composite capability/preference profiles (CC/PP): structure and vocabularies 1.0. W3C recommendation. Available online at: http://www.w3.org/TR/CCPP-struct-vocab/ 2004.

  7. Manola F. and Miller E. RDF primer. W3C recommendation. Available online at: http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-primer/, 2004.

  8. RSS-DEV Working Group. RDF site summary (RSS) 1.0. Available online at: http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/, 2000.

  9. Swartz A. MusicBrainz: a semantic web service. IEEE Intell. Syst., 17(1):76–77, 2002.

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© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Weiss, M. (2009). Resource Description Framework. In: LIU, L., ÖZSU, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-39940-9_905

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