linkeddata

Linked data is a set of practices for publishing and connecting structured data on the web so that it can be discovered, accessed, and integrated by machines and people. The approach is built around four core principles: use unique HTTP URIs as names for things, make those URIs dereferencable so people can retrieve useful information by following them, provide information about the resources in a standard form such as RDF, and include links to other related URIs to enable data discovery beyond a single dataset.

Technologies commonly used in linked data include the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and its serializations such as Turtle, RDF/XML, and N-Triples, as well as RDF-based schemas like RDFS and OWL. Data can be queried with SPARQL, and increasingly with JSON-LD for compatibility with web APIs. Vocabularies and ontologies help describe relationships and attributes, and data often interchanges with other datasets through dereferenced URIs. The broader movement is part of the Semantic Web, aiming to create a global data ecosystem where diverse datasets can be connected and reasoned about.

Linked data is widely applied in knowledge graphs and open data portals. Notable examples include Wikidata, DBpedia, and various government and cultural heritage portals that publish datasets using linked data principles. Benefits include improved data interoperability, easier data integration, and enhanced discovery through cross-dataset links. Challenges include ensuring data quality and provenance, managing licensing and privacy, and sustaining link maintenance as data evolves.