linkrelate

LinkRelate is a conceptual framework and software ecosystem designed to standardize the encoding and traversal of relationships between resources across digital content. It provides a structured approach to linking related data, documents, and media items, enabling users and applications to infer contextual connections.

The project originated in the late 2010s as an open standard proposed by the LinkRelate Consortium to address fragmentation in data linking across domains like libraries, science, and commerce. It defines a set of relation types, a serialization format, and an API for querying relationships.

Core components include a graph-based relationship store, a relation-type registry using URIs, and adapters for common data formats (RDF, JSON-LD, XML). It supports provenance metadata, dating, trust levels, and versioning. The query layer allows traversal and filtering by type, weight, and context.

Applications include digital libraries for cross-linking catalog records, scientific data integration, enterprise knowledge graphs, and recommendation systems. It is designed to complement existing standards such as RDF and JSON-LD rather than replace them.

Reception notes: academic and industry professionals regard it as a meaningful contribution to data interlinking, though adoption is limited and development is ongoing. Critics point to complexity and the need for community governance and tooling.

See also: Semantic web, data provenance, graph databases, linked data, RDF, JSON-LD.