Kingsley Uyi Idehen's Weblog

New ADO.NET 3.x Provider for Virtuoso Released (Updated)

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:36:47 GMT

I am pleased to announce the immediate availability of the Virtuoso ADO.NET 3.5 data provider for Microsoft's .NET platform.

What is it?

A data access driver/provider that provides conceptual entity oriented access to RDBMS data managed by Virtuoso. Naturally, it also uses Virtuoso's in-built virtual / federated database layer to provide access to ODBC and JDBC accessible RDBMS engines such as: Oracle (7.x to latest), SQL Server (4.2 to latest), Sybase, IBM Informix (5.x to latest), IBM DB2, Ingres (6.x to latest), Progress (7.x to OpenEdge), MySQL, PostgreSQL, Firebird, and others using our ODBC or JDBC bridge drivers.

Why is it important?

Technically

It delivers an Entity-Attribute-Value + Classes & Relationships model over disparate data sources that are materialized as .NET Entity Framework Objects, which are then consumable via ADO.NET Data Object Services, LINQ for Entities, and other ADO.NET data consumers.

The provider is fully integrated into Visual Studio 2008 and delivers the same "ease of use" offered by Microsoft's own SQL Server provider, but across Virtuoso, Oracle, Sybase, DB2, Informix, Ingres, Progress (OpenEdge), MySQL, PostgreSQL, Firebird, and others. The same benefits also apply uniformly to Entity Frameworks compatibility.

Bearing in mind that Virtuoso is a multi-model (hybrid) data manager, this also implies that you can use .NET Entity Frameworks against all data managed by Virtuoso. Remember, Virtuoso's SQL channel is a conduit to Virtuoso's core; thus, RDF (courtesy of SPASQL as already implemented re. Jena/Sesame/Redland providers), XML, and other data forms stored in Virtuoso also become accessible via .NET's Entity Frameworks.

Strategically

You can choose which entity oriented data access model works best for you: RDF Linked Data & SPARQL or .NET Entity Frameworks & Entity SQL. Either way, Virtuoso delivers a commercial grade, high-performance, secure, and scalable solution.

How do I use it?

Simply follow one of guides below:

Note: When working with external or 3rd party databases, simply use the Virtuoso Conductor to link the external data source into Virtuoso. Once linked, the remote tables will simply be treated as though they are native Virtuoso tables leaving the virtual database engine to handle the rest. This is similar to the role the Microsoft JET engine played in the early days of ODBC, so if you've ever linked an ODBC data source into Microsoft Access, you are ready to do the same using Virtuoso.

Linked Data Web Collaborators: Introducing Structured Dynamics

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:03:33 GMT

As indicated in posts from Fred Giasson and Mike Bergman, the Zitgist incubation effort that contributed to the delivery of vital Linked Data Web infrastructure components such as TalkDigger (discourse discovery and participation), PingTheSemanticWeb (ground-zero data source for most Semantic Web search engines), UMBEL (binding layer for Upper and Lower Ontologies amongst other things), Music Ontology (enabling meaningful description of Music), and Bibliographic Ontology (enabling meaningful description of Bibliographic content), is now ready to continue its business development and technology growth as a going concern known as Structured Dynamics.

With great joy and pride, I wish Structured Dynamics all the success they deserve. Naturally, the collaborations and close relationship between OpenLink Software and its latest technology partner will continue -- especially as we collectively work towards a more comprehendible and pragmatic Web of Linked Data for developers (across Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and beyond), end-users (information- and knowledge-workers), and entrepreneurs (driven by quality and tangible value contribution).

My Hopes for Linked Data in 2009 (Update #2)

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:39:23 GMT

Happy New Year!

In 2009 I hope the following happens re. "Linked Data":

We realize it's a Meme
We collectively connect the Meme to the concept of granular hyperlinks between data entities/objects (datum to datum linkage aka. Hyperdata Linking)
We generally connect the Meme to technology ancestry such as the Entity-Attribute-Value with Classes & Relationships (EAV/CR) data model (then broader commonality with erstwhile unrelated realms will be unveiled e.g., Entity Frameworks from Microsoft, Core Data from Apple, SimpleDB from Amazon, and the Freebase Graph Model DB amongst others)
We instinctively connect the Meme to the concept of Entity Oriented Data Access and Management (RDF based Linked Data is basically EAV/CR scheme that uses HTTP based Pointers for Entity, Attribute, and Relationship Identifiers)
We naturally connect the Meme with the notion that an identifier for a unit of data (aka. Datum) should be the conduit to a negotiable representation of said Datum's description (i.e., it's attribute and relationship properties in HTML, XHTML, RDFa, Turtle, N3, RDF/XML etc., for example)
We ultimately connect the Meme with a conceptual-level approach to data integration across disparate data sources (also known as Master Data Management (MDM) ).

2009 is about a reboot on a monumental scale. We need new thinking, new technology, new approaches, and new solutions. No matter what route we take, we can't negate the importance of "Data". When dealing with organic or inorganic computers systems -- Data is simply everything!

The ability of individuals and enterprises to access, mesh, and disseminate data to relevant nodes across public and private networks will ultimately determine the winners and losers in the new frontier, ushered in by 2009.

Do not take data access and data management technology for granted. User interfaces come and ago, application logic comes and goes, but your data stays with you forever. If you are mystified by data access technology then make 2009 the year of data access technology demystification :-)

Is Linked Data Always Relevant?

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:32:20 GMT

I pose the question above because I stumbled across an interesting claim about OpenLink Software and its representatives expressed in the ReadWriteWeb post titled: XBRL: Mashing Up Financial Statements, where the following claim is made:

"..There is evidence that they promote LINKED DATA at any expense without understanding the rationale behind other approaches...".

To answer the question above, Linked Data is always relevant as long as we are actually talking about "Data" which is simply the case all of the time, irrespective of interaction medium.

If XBRL can be disconnected in anyway from Linked Data, I desperately would like to be enlightened (as per my comments to the post). Why wouldn't anyone desire the ability to navigate the linked data inherent in any financial report? Every entity in an XBRL instance document is an entity, directly or indirectly related to other entities. Why "Mash" the data when you can harmonize XBRL data via a Generic Financial Dictionary (schema or ontology) such that descriptions of Balance Sheet, P&L, and other entities are navigable via their attributes and relationships? In short, why "Mash" (code based brute force joining across disparately shaped data) when you can "Mesh" (natural joining of structured data entities)?

"Linked Data" is about the ability to connect all our observations (data)? , perceptions (information), and inferences / conclusions (knowledge) across a spectrum of interaction media. And it just so happens that the RDF data model (Entity-Attribute-Vaue + Class Relationships + HTTP based Object Identifiers), a range of RDF data model serialization formats, and SPARQL (Query Language and Web Service combo) actually make this possible, in a manner consistent with the essence of the global space we know as the World Wide Web.

BBC's Britain from Above (core message: Data is Everything).

Bio2Rdf EC2 AMI is now Ready! (Updated)

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:37:45 GMT

Adding to the collection of Amazon EC2 AMI based knowledgebases already unveiled for DBpedia and NeuroCommons, we now have a Bio2Rdf knowledgebase AMI.

What is Bio2Rdf?

A community developed knowledgebase comprised of Bio Informatics data from across 30 or so public data sources. The standard deployment of Bio2Rdf includes a a federation of SPARQL endpoints provided by project members and collaborators.

What is the Bio2Rdf EC2 AMI?

An Amazon EC2 hosted variant of the Bio2Rdf knowledgebase. In addition to providing a SPARQL endpoint, the data exposed by the Amazon AMI is published in compliance with Linked Data publishing best practices espoused by the Linking Open Data community (LOD).

Benefits?

The ability to instantiate a personal or service-specific variant of this powerful knowledgebase via the Amazon EC2 Cloud. Instead of a 22+ hour error prone odyssey - you simply get down to the task of data analysis and integration within 1.5 hrs (when setting up you AMI for the first time).

How do I get going?

Just follow the instructions in the Bio2Rdf EC2 AMI installation guide.

Cool URIs, Fish, and Wine

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:41:03 GMT

I've just read James Governor's insightful post titled: Why Applications Are Like Fish and Data is Like Wine, where he sums up the comparative value of applications (code containers) and data as follows:

"Only one improves with age. With apologies to the originator of the phrase - “Hardware is like fish, operating systems are like wine.”

Yes! Applications are like Fish and Data like Wine, which is basically what Linked Data is fundamentally about, especially when you inject memes such as "Cool URIs" into the mix. Remember, the essence of Linked Data is all about a Web of Linked Data Objects endowed with Identifiers that don't change i.e., they occupy one place in public (e.g. World Wide Web) or private (your corporate Intranet or Extranet) networks, keeping the data that they expose relevant (as in fresh), accessible, and usable in many forms courtesy of the data access & representation dexterity that HTTP facilitates, when incorporated into object identifiers.

Here is another excerpt from his post that rings true (amongst many others):

What am I talking about? Processes change, and need to change. Baking data into the application is a bad idea because the data can’t then be extended in useful, and “unexpected ways”. But not expecting corporate data to be used in new ways is kind of like not expecting the Spanish Inquisition. But… “NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.” (sounds like Enterprise Architecture ...).

Master Data Management & RDF based Linked Data

Master Data Management (MDM) & RDF based Linked Data

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:53:13 GMT

It is getting clearer by the second that Master Data Management and RDF based Linked data are two realms separated by a common desire to provide "Entity Oriented Data Access" to heterogeneous data sources (within the enterprise and/or across the World Wide Web).

Here is how I see Linked Data providing tangible value to MDM tools vendors and users:

Open access to Entities across MDM instances served up by different MDM solutions acting as Linked Data publishers (i.e., expose MDM Entities as RDF resources endowed with de-referencable URIs thereby enabling Hyperdata-style linking)
Use of RDF-ization middleware to hook disparate data sources (SQL, XML, and other data sources) into existing MDM packages (i.e., the MDM solutions become consumers of RDF Linked Data).

Of course Virtuoso was designed and developed to deliver the above from day one (circa. 1998 re. the core and 2005 re. the use of RDF for the final mile) as depicted below:

Other MDM related posts

YODA & the Data FORCE

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:32:49 GMT

The original design document (by TimBL) that lead to the WWW (*an important read*) was very clear about the need to create an "information space" that connects heterogeneous data sources. Unfortunately, in trying to create a moniker to distinguish one aspect of the Web (the Linked Document Web) from the part that was overlooked (the Linked Data Web), we ended up with a project code name that's fundamentally a misnomer in the form of: "The Semantic Web".

If we could just take "The Semantic Web" moniker for what it was -- a code name for an aspect of the Web -- and move on, things will get much clearer, fast!

Basically, what is/was the "Semantic Web" should really have been code named: ("You" Oriented Data Access) as a play on: Yoda's appreciation of the FORCE (Fact ORiented Connected Entities) -- the power of inter galactic, interlinked, structured data, fashioned by the World Wide Web courtesy of the HTTP protocol.

As stated in a earlier post, the next phase of the Web is all about the magic of entity "You". The single most important item of reference to every Web user would be the Person Entity ID (URI). Just by remembering your Entity ID, you will have intelligent pathways across, and into, the FORCE that the Linked Data Web delivers. The quality of the pathways and increased density of the FORCE are the keys to high SDQ (tomorrows SEO). Thus, the SDQ of URIs will ultimately be the unit determinant of value to Web Users along the following personal lines:

Does your platform give me Identity (a URI) with high SDQ?
Do the Data Source Names (URIs) in your Data Spaces deliver high SDQ?

While most industry commentators continue to ponder and pontificate about what "The Semantic Web" is (unfortunately), the real thing (the "FORCE") is already here, and self-enhancing rapidly.

Assuming we now accept the FORCE is simply an RDF based Linked Data moniker, and that RDF Linked Data is all about the Web as a structured database, we should start to move our attention over to practical exploitation of this burgeoning global database, and in doing so we should not discard knowledge from the past such as the many great examples available gratis from the Relational Database realm. For instance, we should start paying attention to the discovery, development, and deployment of high level tools such as query builders, report writers, and intelligence oriented analytic tools, none of which should -- at first point of interaction -- expose raw RDF or the SPARQL query language. Along similar lines of thinking, we also need development environments and frameworks that are counterparts to Visual Studio, ACCESS, File Maker, and the like.

Numerati & The Magic of You!

Entity Oriented Data Access

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:32:08 GMT

Recent perturbations in Data Access and Data Management technology realms are clear signs of an imminent inflection. In a nutshell, the focus of data access is moving from the "Logical Level" (what you see if you've ever looked at a DBMS schema derived from an Entity Data Model) to the "Conceptual Level" (i.e., the Entity Model becoming concrete).

In recent times I've stumbled across Master Data Management (MDM) which is all about entities that provide holistic views of enterprise data (or what I call: Context Lenses). I've also stumbled across emerging tensions in the .NET realm between Linq to Entities and Linq to SQL, where in either case the fundamental issues comes down to the optimal paths "Conceptual Level Access" over the "Logical Logical Level" when dealing with data access in the .NET realm.

Strangely, the emerging realm of RDF Linked Data, MDM, and .NET's Entity Frameworks, remain strangely disconnected.

Another oddity is the obvious, but barely acknowledged, blurring of the lines between the "traditional enterprise employee" and the "individual Web netizen". The fusion between these entities is one of the most defining characteristics of how the Web is reshaping the data landscape.

At the current time, I tend to crystalize my data access world view under the moniker: YODA ("You" Oriented Data Access), based on the following:

Entities are the new focal point of data access, management, and integration
"You" are the entry point (Data Source Name) into this new realm of inter connected Entities that the Web exposes
"You" the "Person" Entity is associated with many other "Things" such as "Organizations", "Other People", "Books", "Music", "Subject Matter" etc.
"You" the "Person" needs Identity in this new global database, which is why "You" need to Identify "Yourself" using an an HTTP based Entity ID (aka. URI)
When "You" have an ID for "Yourself" it becomes much easier for the essence of "You" to be discovered via the Web
When "Others" have IDs for "Themselves" on the Web it becomes much easier for "You" to serendipitously discover or explicitly "Find" things on the Web.

Virtuoso Installation Screencasts

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 01:44:27 GMT

As promised in an earlier post titled: Virtuoso, PHP 3.5 Runtime Hosting, phpBB3, and Linked Data, here are direct links to the "silent movies" mentioned in the past:

Installing Virtuoso on Vista with PHP Hosting
Installing Virtuoso on Mac OS X (Leopard) with PHP Hosting
EC2 Installation Part 1 (*AMIs take about 5 minutes to get assembled*)
EC2 Installation Part 2 (*post AMI creation part*)

Virtuoso is an extremely compact product that is very easy to install. The ease of installation carries over to the PHP runtime when bound to Virtuoso.

Welcoming Freebase to the Linked Data Web

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:02:00 GMT

Finally! That's all I can say re. Freebase :-) They've now plugged their database and their community driven data curation efforts into the burgeoning Linked Data Web.

Here are some examples of how we distill Entities (People, Places, Music, and other things) from Freebase (X)HTML pages (meaning: we don't have to start from RDF information resources as data sources for the eventual RDF Linked Data we generate):

Tip: Install our OpenLink Data Explorer extension for Firefox. Once installed, simply browse through Freebase, and whenever you encounter a page about something of interest, simply use the following sequences to distill (via the Page Description feature) the entities from the page you are reading:

CTRL-Click (Mac OS X)
Right+Click (Windows & Linux)

Dog-fooding: Linked Data and OpenLink Product Portfolio

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:05:42 GMT

Thanks to RDF and Linked Data, it's becoming a lot easier for us to explain and reveal the depth of the OpenLink technology portfolio.

Here is a look at our offerings by product family:

As you explore the Linked Data graph exposed via our product portfolio, I expect you to experience, or at least spot, the virtuous potential of high SDQ (Serendipitous Discovery Quotient) courtesy of Linked Data, which is Web 3.0's answer to SEO. For instance, how Database, Operating System, and Processor family paths in the product portfolio graph (data network) unveil a lot more about OpenLink Software than meets the proverbial "eye" :-)

The Virtuous Web of Linked Data -- Business Perspective (Updated)

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:56:55 GMT

Orri Erling (Program Manager: OpenLink Virtuoso) has dropped a well explained reiteration of the essence of the "Linked Data Web" or "Data Web" with an emphasis on the business value. His post is titled: State of the Semantic Web (Part 1) - Sociology, Business, and Messaging.

Typically, Orri's post are targeted at the hard core RDF and SQL DBMS audiences, but in this particular post, he shoots straight at the business community revealing "Opportunity Cost" containment as the invisible driver behind the business aspects of any market inflection.

Remember, the Web isn't ubiquitous because its users mastered the mechanics and virtues of HTML and/or HTTP. Web ubiquity is a function of the opportunity cost of not being on the Web, courtesy of the network effects of hyperlinked documents -- i.e., the instant gratification of traversing documents on the Web via a single click action. In similar fashion, the Linked Data Web's ubiquity will simply come down to the opportunity cost of not being "inside the Web", courtesy of the network effects of hyperlinked entities (documents, people, music, books, and other "Things").

Here are some excerpts from Orri's post:

Every time there is a major shift in technology, this shift needs to be motivated by addressing a new class of problem. This means doing something that could not be done before. The last time this happened was when the relational database became the dominant IT technology. At that time, the questions involved putting the enterprise in the database and building a cluster of line of business applications around the database. The argument for the RDBMS was that you did not have to constrain the set of queries that might later be made, when designing the database. In other words, it was making things more ad hoc. This was opposed then on grounds of being less efficient than the hierarchical and network databases which the relational eventually replaced. Today, the point of the Data Web is that you do not have to constrain what your data can join or integrate with, when you design your database. The counter-argument is that this is slow and geeky and not scalable. See the similarity? A difference is that we are not specifically aiming at replacing the RDBMS. In fact, if you know exactly what you will query and have a well defined workload, a relational representation optimized for the workload will give you about 10x the performance of the equivalent RDF warehouse. OLTP remains a relational-only domain. However, when we are talking about doing queries and analytics against the Web, or even against more than a handful of relational systems, the things which make RDBMS good become problematic.

If we think about Web 1.0 as a period where the distinguishing noun was: "Author", and Web 2.0 the noun: "Journalist", we should be able to see that what comes next is the noun: "Analyst". This new generation analyst would be equipped with de-referencable Web Identity courtesy of their Person Entity URI. The analyst's URI would also be the critical component of Web based low cost attribution ecosystem; one that ultimately turns the URI into the analyst's brand emblem / imprint.

Paul Downey

Vanity of Demanding Attribution

Virtuoso, PHP 3.5 Runtime Hosting, phpBB3, and Linked Data

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:55:54 GMT

Runtime hosting is functionality realm of Virtuoso that is sometimes easily overlooked. In this post I want to provide a simple no-hassles HOWTO guide for installing Virtuoso on Windows (32 or 64 Bit), Mac OS X (Universal or Native 64 Bit), and Linux (32 or 64 Bit). The installation guide also covers the instantiation of phpBB3 as verification of the Virtuoso hosted PHP 3.5 runtime.

What are the benefits of PHP Runtime Hosting?

Simple, this means that like Apache, Virtuoso is a bona-fide Web Application Server for an PHP application. Unlike Apache, Virtuoso is also the following:

a DBMS Engine (SQL, XML, RDF, and unstructured Text) that is accessible via industry standard interfaces (solely)
a Virtual DBMS or Master Data Manager (MDM) for heterogeneous and distributed SQL, XML, RDF, unstructured Text based data sources
an RDF Middleware solution for RDF-zation of non RDF resources across the Web and enterprise Intranets and/or Extranets (in the form of Cartridges for SOA & REST Servers and RDF Views (Semantic Covers) over SQL and/or XML data sources)
an RDF Linked Data Server (meaning it can deploy RDF Linked Data)

As result of the above, when you deploy a PHP application using Virtuoso, you inherit the following benefits:

Use of PHP-iODBC for in-process communication with Virtuoso
Easy generation of RDF Linked Data from the SQL schemas of PHP applications
Easy deployment of RDF Linked Data
Less LAMP monoculture (*there is no such thing as virtuous monoculture*) when dealing with PHP based Web applications.

As indicated in prior posts, producing RDF Linked Data from the existing Web, where a lot of content is deployed by PHP based content managers, should simply come down to RDF Views over the SQL Schemas and deployment / publishing of the RDF Views in RDF Linked data form. In a nutshell, this is what Virtuoso delivers via its PHP runtime hosting and pre packaged VADs (Virtuoso Application Distribution packages) for popular PHP based applications such as: phpBB3, Drupal, WordPress, and MediaWiki.

In addition, to the RDF Linked Data deployment, we've also taken the traditional LAMP installation tedium out of the typical PHP application deployment process. For instance, you don't have to rebuild PHP 3.5 (32 or 64 Bit) on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux to get going, simply install Virtuoso, and then select a VAD package for the relevant application and you're set. If the application of choice isn't pre packaged by us, simply install as you would when using Apache, which comes dow to situating the PHP files in your Web structure under the Web Application's root directory.

Installation Guide

Download the Virtuoso installer for Windows (32 Bit msi file or 64 Bit msi file), Mac OS X (Universal Binary dmg file), or instantiate the Virtuoso EC2 AMI (*search for pattern: "Virtuoso when using the Firefox extension for EC2 as the AMI ID is currently: ami-7c31d515 and name: virtuoso-test/virtuoso-cloud-beta-9-i386.manifest.xml, for latest cut*)
Run the installer (or download the movies using the links in the related section below)
Go to the Virtuoso Conductor (*which will show up at the end of the installation process* or go to http://localhost:8890/conductor)
Go to the "Admin" tab within the (X)HTML based UI and select the "Packages" sub-menu item (a Tab)
Pick phpBB3 (or any other pre-packaged PHP app) and then click on "Install/Upgrase"
The watch one of my silent movies or read the initial startup guides for Virtuoso hosted phpBB3, Drupal, Wordpress, MediaWiki.

At the current time, I've only provided links to ZIP files containing the Virtuoso installation "silent movies". This approach is a short-term solution to some of my current movie publishing challenges re. YouTube and Vimeo -- where the compressed output hasn't been of acceptable visual quality. Once resolved, I will publish much more "Multimedia Web" friendly movies :-)

The Numerati & The Magic of You!

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:42:52 GMT

In response to ReadWriteWeb's post titled: Who will own your Data in Web 3.0 World?. My simple answer: You!

You will control your data in the Web 3.0 realm. If somehow this remains somewhat incomprehensible and nebulous (as is typical in this emerging realm) then simply think about this as: The Magic of You!

Remember, "You" was the Times person of the year as an acknowledgement of the Web 2.0 phenomenon, and maybe this time next year it would simply be the "Magic of Being You" that's the person of the year :-)

Web 3.0 brings databasing to the Web (as a feature). The single most important action item at this stage is the act of creating a record for yourself, in this new distributed database held together by an HTTP based Network (e.g., the World Wide Web).

Get yourself a Web Database ID in 5 minutes or less
2006 Callout from TimBL: Get Yourself a URI
Just watch or listen to the Numerati Video or Podcast

Kingsley Uyi Idehen's Weblog

New ADO.NET 3.x Provider for Virtuoso Released (Updated)

What is it?

Why is it important?

Technically

Strategically

How do I use it?

Related

Linked Data Web Collaborators: Introducing Structured Dynamics

Related

My Hopes for Linked Data in 2009 (Update #2)

Related

Is Linked Data Always Relevant?

Related

Bio2Rdf EC2 AMI is now Ready! (Updated)

What is Bio2Rdf?

What is the Bio2Rdf EC2 AMI?

Benefits?

How do I get going?

Related

Cool URIs, Fish, and Wine

Related

Master Data Management (MDM) & RDF based Linked Data

Related

YODA & the Data FORCE

Related

Entity Oriented Data Access

Related

Virtuoso Installation Screencasts

Welcoming Freebase to the Linked Data Web

Related

Dog-fooding: Linked Data and OpenLink Product Portfolio

The Virtuous Web of Linked Data -- Business Perspective (Updated)

Related

Virtuoso, PHP 3.5 Runtime Hosting, phpBB3, and Linked Data

What are the benefits of PHP Runtime Hosting?

Installation Guide

Related

The Numerati & The Magic of You!

Related: