A complete listing of all metadata articles published on XML.com
Introducing RDFa, Part Two
Bob DuCharme
In this second part of a two-part series, Bob DuCharme concludes his introduction of RDFa--a new, XHTML-friendly standard syntax for RDF metadata that allows you to embed RDF metadata into the Web in a novel way. [Apr. 4, 2007]
Introducing RDFa
Bob DuCharme
In this first part of a two-part series, Bob DuCharme introduces us to RDFa, a new, XHTML-friendly standard syntax for RDF metadata that allows you to embed RDF metadata into the Web in a novel way. [Feb. 14, 2007]
RSS Feeds for FTP Servers
Mark Woodman
Mark Woodman returns with another interesting RSS application: he describes a PHP library for creating RSS feeds for FTP sites. Old-school FTP meets new-school RSS! [Mar. 22, 2006]
What Is Atom
Ben Hammersley
So, what are the main differences between Atom and RSS? Apart from the process used to build the specification and the rigor of the documentation, Ben Hammersley writes in this introduction to the Atom Syndication Format that the two substantive differences are preservation of metadata and the concept of constructs. Ben is the author of Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom. [Oct. 26, 2005]
An Introduction to TMAPI
Robert Barta, Oliver Leimig
TMAPI, a Java Topic Map API, is the standard way to interact with XML Topic Maps programmatically from Java. This article provides a tutorial for TMAPI. [Feb. 2, 2005]
Formal Taxonomies for the U.S. Government
Michael Daconta
Mike Daconta, Metadata Program Manager at the Department of Homeland Security, introduces the notion of a formal taxonomy in the context of the Federal Enteriprise Architecture's Data Reference Model. [Jan. 26, 2005]
Linkin' Park
Edd Dumbill
One of the original trinity of XML specs, XML linking has largely failed. Can, and should, we fix it? [Oct. 27, 2004]
Lady and the Tramp
Edd Dumbill
If XML's the Lady, then RSS is the Tramp. But while RSS is energetically being refined and embraced, the Lady's ossifying rapidly. [Sep. 29, 2004]
XMP Lowdown
Bob DuCharme
Bob DuCharme introduces XMP, Adobe's RDF-based specification for embedding metadata into digital artifacts. Get ready to mark up your photos and images with Adobe tools. [Sep. 22, 2004]
RDF Roundup
Edd Dumbill
Edd Dumbill's report on XML community discussions covers how to write XML documents as RDF models and more incredulity at the WS-* web services specifications. [Sep. 22, 2004]
Ontology Tools Survey, Revisited
Michael Denny
Michael Denny updates his original survey of tools for creating ontologies, including the W3C's OWL Web Ontology Language. [Jul. 14, 2004]
Eternal Refactoring
Edd Dumbill
A summary of the latest happenings in the XML and RDF developer communities: refactoring specifications, Amazon wishlists in RDF, and XML as art. [Jul. 7, 2004]
A First Look at the Kowari Triplestore
Paul Ford
An introduction to the Kowari open source RDF store. [Jun. 23, 2004]
Something Useful This Way Comes
Kendall Grant Clark
The Semantic Web appears to be powering ahead: so why are there so many doubters in the XML world? [Jun. 9, 2004]
Putting ISBNs to Work
Kendall Grant Clark
Continuing his "Hacking the Library" series, Kendall Clark starts the implementation of a web service tool to retrieve Library of Congress identifiers given the ISBN of a book. [Jun. 2, 2004]
To Tag or Not to Tag
Patrick O'Kelley
The fascinating story of the new world of opportunities opened by bringing the New Variorum Shakespeare Editions into XML. [May. 26, 2004]
WWW2004 Semantic Web Roundup
Paul Ford
Reporting from the WWW 2004 conference, Paul Ford surveys the state of the art in client and server side semantic web technology. [May. 26, 2004]
The Courtship of Atom
Kendall Grant Clark
The Atom syndication specification may move to a new home at the W3C. We look at the advantages this would bring to all concerned. [May. 19, 2004]
Six Steps to LCC@Home
Kendall Grant Clark
Continuing "Hacking the Library", Kendall Clark shows how to use the Library of Congress Classification on your own book collection. [Apr. 28, 2004]
Getting in Touch with XML Contacts
John E. Simpson
In March's XML Q&A column John E. Simpson describes some of the options for working with personal contact information in XML. [Mar. 31, 2004]
The Library of Congress Comes Home
Kendall Grant Clark
Embarking on his journey to organize our media collections, Kendall Clark explains how the Library of Congress classification system can be brought into our homes. [Mar. 17, 2004]
Semantic Web Interest Group
Kendall Grant Clark
Reporting from the first W3C Semantic Web Interest Group meeting in Cannes, France, Kendall Clark describes the wealth of activity in the semantic web world. [Mar. 3, 2004]
Television Listings and XMLTV
Kyle Downey
On a quest to build a DIY personal video recorder, Kyle Downey gets to grips with XMLTV, a toolkit for screen-scraping TV listings data into XML. [Feb. 18, 2004]
Geeks and the Dijalog Lifestyle
Kendall Grant Clark
Much as we'd like, our personal media collections will never be purely digital. Kendall Clark embarks on a new column dedicated to the application of geek know-how to managing the hybrid analog and digital media collections that we own. [Feb. 18, 2004]
Googling for XML
Bob DuCharme
Google's index includes well over a million XML files. Bob DuCharme shows some strategies for using Google to find the XML, RSS and RDF files that you want. [Feb. 11, 2004]
An Introduction to FOAF
Leigh Dodds
Friend-of-a-friend, FOAF, is an RDF vocabulary for machine-readable homepages. It enables the expression of decentralized social networks akin to the centralized ones seen in Friendster and Orkut. Leigh Dodds provides an introduction to FOAF and its use. [Feb. 4, 2004]
Translating XML Documents with xml:tm
Andrzej Zydron
In order to reduce translation costs in an environment where documentation can change frequently the best answer is the use of translation memory, which works by aligning previously translated text in a target language with the source language. This article describes an improvment, known as "text memory", which allows translation and source text to reside in the same XML document. [Jan. 7, 2004]
The Social Life of XML
Jon Udell
In this write-up of his keynote address to the XML 2003 conference, Jon Udell explains that the key thing about XML is the way anXML document can become a shared construct, a tangible thing that processes and people can pass around and interact with. [Dec. 23, 2003]
Styling RDF Graphs with GSS
Emmanuel Pietriga
Visualising RDF graphs is a hard problem, as they can quickly become unwieldy. This article introduces a solution in the form off GSS (Graph Style Sheets), an RDF vocabulary for describing rule-based style sheets used to modify the visual representation of RDF models represented as node-link diagrams. [Dec. 3, 2003]
Working with Bayesian Categorizers
Jon Udell
Bayesian classification has proved a powerful weapon against spam. Jon Udell tries to find out whether it can be put to use in other spheres of content categorization. [Nov. 19, 2003]
The Long, Long Arm of SGML
Kendall Grant Clark
Commenting on Tim Bray's "UTF-8+names" proposal for creating memorable shortcuts for some Unicode code points, Kendall Clark sees the effort as part of XML's continuing struggle against the legacy of its SGML ancestry. [Nov. 5, 2003]
A Web of Rules
Kendall Grant Clark
In his second report from the International Semantic Web Conference, Kendall Clark discusses the importance of rules to the deployment of the Semantic Web, and highlights the importance of interaction between the academic and free software communities. [Oct. 23, 2003]
Commercializing the Semantic Web
Kendall Grant Clark
In the first of his reports from the 2nd International Semantic Web Conference, Kendall Clark discusses the path forward for successfully selling and developing Semantic Web technology into industry. [Oct. 22, 2003]
A Report From Extreme Markup Languages 2003
James Mason
Jim Mason, one of the co-chairs of the Extreme Markup Languages conference, reports on this recent annual gathering of deeply involved XML enthuasiasts and innovators. [Aug. 27, 2003]
Escaped Markup Considered Harmful
Norman Walsh
How do you carry HTML or XML around inside an XML document? Not by using CDATA sections or escaping special characters, says Norm Walsh. Find out why embedding markup this way is wrong, and what alternatives there are. [Aug. 20, 2003]
Designing a New Schema with XML Design Patterns
Kyle Downey
Following on from our articles on XML schema design patterns, this article applies these patterns to the design of a new schema, leveraging existing XML languages such as XHTML and RDF along the way. [Jun. 4, 2003]
At Microsoft's Mercy
Kendall Grant Clark
The future of XML editing is pretty much in Microsoft's hands, writes Kendall Grant Clark, reporting on community reaction to the news that Microsoft Office 2003's much-hyped XML features will be restricted to the higher-end versions of the suite. [Apr. 23, 2003]
The Semantic Blog
Jon Udell
One of XML's promises is fine-grained, specific searching, but this doesn't come without a lot of effort in data preparation. Jon Udell looks for the sweet spot that marries spontaneity and structure. [Apr. 15, 2003]
The Social Meaning of RDF
Kendall Grant Clark
The W3C is about to undertake a discussion of what the social meaning of RDF is -- what the real world import is of an RDF statement. Kendall Clark previews the debate and recent related discussion. [Mar. 5, 2003]
XML at Five
Edd Dumbill
To celebrate five years of XML, Edd Dumbill interviews a selection of XML old-timers and experts about their experiences of XML and hopes for the future. [Feb. 12, 2003]
Building Metadata Applications with RDF
Bob DuCharme
After some time wondering what to do with RDF, Bob DuCharme found RDFlib, a Python RDF processing library, and "the lightbulb finally went on." Bob describes his experiences. [Feb. 12, 2003]
BrownSauce: An RDF Browser
Damian Steer
Damian Steer introduces BrownSauce, his project to create a generalised browser for RDF/XML encoded data. [Feb. 5, 2003]
Introduction to XFML
Peter Van Dijck
Peter van Dijck introduces XFML -- eXchangeable Faceted Metadata Language -- a lightweight and easy to understand XML language for sharing faceted metadata. [Jan. 22, 2003]
Creative Comments: On the Uses and Abuses of Markup
Kendall Grant Clark
The way Creative Commons recommends linking its machine-readable licenses into HTML pages makes little sense, says Kendall Clark, and proposes alternatives. [Jan. 15, 2003]
RDF Update
Shelley Powers
The W3C's Resource Description Framework (RDF) Working Group recently released a slew of new specifications. Shelley Powers provides an overview of each draft. [Nov. 27, 2002]
RPV: Triples Made Plain
Kendall Grant Clark
Kendall Grant Clark looks at a recent proposal for an alternative XML syntax for RDF: Tim Bray's RPV syntax. [Nov. 20, 2002]
RDF, What's It Good For?
Kendall Grant Clark
Kendall Grant Clark ponders the hidden benefits of RDF, and examines the XML-DEV community response to a recent XML.com article on making XML documents RDF-friendly. [Nov. 13, 2002]
Ontology Building: A Survey of Editing Tools
Michael Denny
Ontologies, structured depictions or models of known facts, are being built today to make a number of applications more capable of handling complex and disparate information. Michael Denny surveys the tools available for creating and editing ontologies. [Nov. 6, 2002]
Make Your XML RDF-Friendly
John Cowan, Bob DuCharme
As the volume of RDF-consuming applications grow, the authors demonstrate how XML documents can be made useful to RDF processors as well as normal XML parsers. [Oct. 30, 2002]
Business Maps: Topic Maps Go B2B
Marc de Graauw
Marc de Graauw shows how topic maps can be used to help solve interoperability problems between XML B2B vocabularies. [Aug. 21, 2002]
Look Ma, No Tags
Kendall Grant Clark
XML's success can be measured not only in terms of deployment, but also in terms of inspiring competitors. Kendall Clark examines one such tagless competitor, YAML. [Jul. 24, 2002]
The True Meaning of Service
Kendall Grant Clark
Kendall Grant Clark investigates the DAML-Services ontology, which ties together web services with the semantic web and could well play a key part in the web of the future. [Jul. 17, 2002]
Go Tell It On the Mountain
Kendall Grant Clark
As part of the re-framing of the W3C's Resource Description Framework a primer has been produced to accompany the new RDF specifications. Kendall Clark reviews the new document. [May. 15, 2002]
DAML Reference
Uche Ogbuji, Roxane Ouellet
The third part of our series on the DARPA Agent Markup Language takes the form of a quick reference to RDF, RDFS and DAML. [May. 1, 2002]
If Ontology, Then Knowledge: Catching Up With WebOnt
Kendall Grant Clark
An examination of the aims and achievements to date of the W3C's Web Ontology Working Group, who are tasked with creating an ontology language for the Semantic Web. [May. 1, 2002]
Introduction to DAML: Part II
Uche Ogbuji, Roxane Ouellet
The second part of our introduction to the DARPA Agent Markup Language covers advanced restrictions that can be placed on properties and classes. [Mar. 13, 2002]
Introduction to DAML: Part I
Uche Ogbuji, Roxane Ouellet
The first of a three-part series examining the DARPA Agent Markup Language, an XML/RDF application intended to provide tools for building the Semantic Web. [Jan. 30, 2002]
ScrollKeeper: Open Source Document Management
Kendall Grant Clark
Building on the Open Source Metadata Framework and Dublin Core, ScrollKeeper sets out to unify the diverse world of open source documentation. [Nov. 28, 2001]
Modeling XML Vocabularies with UML: Part I
Dave Carlson
In the first of a three-part series Dave Carlson describes how UML can be put to use in modeling XML vocabularies. [Aug. 22, 2001]
The RDF Calendar Task Force
Leigh Dodds
Dodds describes the goals and methodology of the RDF Calendar Task Force, a practical Semantic Web development effort. [Jul. 25, 2001]
RDF Applications with Prolog
Bijan Parsia
In the second article in our series on RDF and Prolog, we compare the use of Prolog and XSLT to render RDF into HTML. [Jul. 25, 2001]
DIDL: Packaging Digital Content
Vaughn Iverson, Todd Schwartz, Mark Walker
Internet applications generally fall short in their ability to transfer multimedia content. This article describes an XML vocabulary for packaging digital content, breaking the one-to-one mapping between the notion of a content item and an individual file. [May. 30, 2001]
Using the Jena API to Process RDF
Joe Verzulli
Jena is a freely-available Java API for processing RDF. This article provides an introduction to the API and its implementation. [May. 23, 2001]
Building a Semantic Web Site
Eric van der Vlist
By simple use of XML vocabularies like XMLNews and RSS, Eric van der Vlist shows how you can build dynamic indexes to web site content. [May. 2, 2001]
An Introduction to Prolog and RDF
Bijan Parsia
In the first of a series on creating Semantic Web applications with Prolog, Bijan Parsia introduces Prolog and its use in processing RDF. [Apr. 25, 2001]
ComicsML: A Simple Markup Language for Comics
Jason McIntosh
ComicsML came to life as a result of a comics artist and fan starting to work with XML. Read all about this useful and fun XML application, and how it could change the face of online comics. [Apr. 18, 2001]
Tim Berners-Lee on the W3C's Semantic Web Activity
Edd Dumbill
The World Wide Web Consortium has recently embarked on a program of development on the Semantic Web. This interview outlines the vision behind the new Activity, and how it relates to XML in general. [Mar. 21, 2001]
Knowledge Technologies 2001: Conference Diary
Edd Dumbill
The inaugural Knowledge Technologies conference brought together members of diverse communities, all concerned with managing knowledge: from RDF and Topic Maps to AI. [Mar. 7, 2001]
Building the Semantic Web
Edd Dumbill
Tim Berners-Lee's vision of the Semantic Web is undoubtedly exciting, but its success will lie in the extent to which it solves real world problems. [Mar. 7, 2001]
XML-related Activities at the W3C
C.M. Sperberg-McQueen
This report from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) on the development of XML-related specifications highlights the diverse paths that XML has taken since its invention a few years ago. [Jan. 3, 2001]
Getting Topical
Simon St. Laurent
At the recent XML 2000 conference the XML Topic Maps (XTM) specification made an impressive debut. Simon St.Laurent reviews the development and prospects of XTM. [Dec. 20, 2000]
XML 2000 Show Floor Review
Simon St. Laurent
New and interesting technologies from the show floor at XML 2000, including Schemantix, Fourthought, Kinecta, Ontopia and Architag. [Dec. 7, 2000]
Berners-Lee and the Semantic Web Vision
Edd Dumbill
In a keynote session at XML 2000 Tim Berners-Lee, Director of the World Wide Web Consortium, outlined his vision for the Semantic Web. [Dec. 6, 2000]
What's in a Name?
Leigh Dodds
The XML-Deviant looks at best practices for identifying XML resources; then wonders why more developers aren't taking advantage of entity management systems. [Nov. 29, 2000]
Primed for the Semantic Web
Leigh Dodds
Last week's article on the Semantic Web has sparked discussion among the RDF developer community, who are considering the nature of the Semantic Web and how it might be implemented. [Nov. 8, 2000]
XML Protocol Technology Reference
Edd Dumbill
A quick reference to the most important technologies and initiatives in the XML protocols area, with links to specifications, white papers, and developer communities. [Nov. 1, 2000]
The Semantic Web: A Primer
Edd Dumbill
The question "What is the Semantic Web?" is being asked with increasing frequency. While mainstream media is content with a high level view, XML developers want to know more, and discover the substance behind the vision. [Nov. 1, 2000]
An Introduction to Dublin Core
Eric Miller, Stuart Weibel
You may have heard of the Dublin Core metadata element set before, but who is behind it, and what do they want to achieve? The leaders of the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative explain what they do and where they're headed. [Oct. 25, 2000]
Dublin Core in the Wild
Dale Dougherty
The recent Dublin Core Metadata Initiative meeting provided an opportunity for O'Reilly Network to discover more about Dublin Core and to explore its relationship with RSS. [Oct. 25, 2000]
Of Standards and Standard Makers
Leigh Dodds
The debate over who makes XML standards and how they are made rumbles on. This week the XML-Deviant examines the W3C and asks whether its Semantic Web initiative informs or hinders comprehension of their mission. [Oct. 25, 2000]
RIL: A Taste of Knowledge
Uche Ogbuji
An innovative part of 4RDF is the RDF Inference Language (RIL), which provides a way of viewing an RDF model as an Expert System knowledge base. [Oct. 11, 2000]
4RDF: A Library for Web Metadata
Uche Ogbuji
One of the jewels in the crown of Python's XML support is the 4Suite collection of libraries, the most recent addition to which is 4RDF, a library for the parsing, querying, and storage of RDF. [Oct. 11, 2000]
Super Model
Leigh Dodds
Growing interest in RDF is seeing renewed work to increase understanding of the specification, including a move to separate RDF's simple data model from its oft-maligned syntax. [Sep. 20, 2000]
Going to Extremes
Liora Alschuler
Geeks in tweed and metadata maniacs, shapers of the future of structured information representation. The recent Extreme Markup Languages conference had it all. Liora Alschuler was there and reports back on the Topic Maps and RDF head-to-head. [Sep. 13, 2000]
Distributed XML
Edd Dumbill
In this speech to the XML World 2000 conference in Boston, XML.com Editor Edd Dumbill gives an overview of the integrated future of XML and the Web, and the role that SOAP and RDF will play in that vision. [Sep. 6, 2000]
Instant RDF?
Leigh Dodds
RDF has some devoted followers, but is yet to hit the XML mainstream. Many believe this is because of its complicated syntax. XML-Deviant investigates the quest for "instant RDF". [Aug. 30, 2000]
Putting RDF to Work
Edd Dumbill
Tool and API support for the Resource Description Framework is slowly coming of age. Edd Dumbill takes a look at RDFDB, one of the most exciting new RDF toolkits. [Aug. 9, 2000]
Investigating the Infoset
Leigh Dodds
XML's syntax was invented before its data model, but the XML Infoset specification is seeking to plug the gap and formalize the data model. The XML-Deviant examines what the Infoset is, and what people think of it so far. [Aug. 2, 2000]
Syndicating XML
Edd Dumbill
This special issue of XML.com focuses on XML's application in syndication, including XML news formats, ICE, and syndicating web site headlines with RSS. [Jul. 21, 2000]
XML and Portals
Edd Dumbill
This month's XML.com Special Edition focuses on the role of XML in portals. XML plays a natural part in the process of aggregation and transformation of data that is core to the operation of a portal. [May. 15, 2000]
Moving Home: Portable Site Information
Lynn C. Rees
Web development frameworks are many and varied, but why should you have to rebuild your site structure for each one? XML comes to the rescue, in the form of the Portable Site Information project. [Mar. 22, 2000]
Being Resourceful
Leigh Dodds
Forget about making XML simpler, what about RDF? While some may love this specification, many others find it impenetrable. XML-Deviant probes the grumblings of XML-DEV about this controversial technology. [Mar. 8, 2000]
When XML Gets Ugly
Simon St. Laurent
What are the security consequences for a Web full of XML? Co-chair David Megginson used his keynote speech at XTech 2000 to focus on this issue. [Mar. 2, 2000]
XML Inter-Application Protocols
Edd Dumbill
Last week, XML.com reported on a talk by Tim O'Reilly, in which he discussed the next-generation of web-centric applications. This week, Edd Dumbill presents a case why XML is already in a position to form the links between these services. [Oct. 13, 1999]
Building an XML-based Metasearch Engine on the Server
Ralf Westphal
Ralf shows you how to move the metasearch process to the server and deliver browser independent HTML to any client. [Jul. 8, 1999]
RDF and Metadata
Tim Bray
Not excited about metadata? XML.com's technical editor Tim Bray thinks you should be and he explains why. He presents RDF, a spec that standardizes how to supply metadata on the Web. [Jun. 9, 1998]
Perspecta takes fresh approach to using XML metadata to navigate content
Liora Alschuler
Perspecta, a San Francisco start-up selling technology first developed at the MIT Media Lab, has added XML support to the company’s SmartContent System, a platform for managing and navigating large information repositories. [Jan. 10, 1998]
