MicroModels
This Page Retired!
Please use CustomRdfDialects
(2007-10-30)
Micromodels are a set of simple, open data models built upon existing and widely adopted standards.
Objective: making it cost-effective to record and share knowledge formally, i.e. so that computers can manipulate it.
Developments around blogging and syndication have led to the emergence of Web formats which are closely related to HTML but are designed to carry explicit data. The purpose of this page is to assemble a collection of interoperable data models corresponding to each of these, along with mappings from the formats to the models. Semantic Web languages (RDF and OWL) offer a standard approach. The GRDDL WG is using these as the basis for showing how microformats and RDF can interoperate with GRDDL Micromodels for Use Cases.
This is no way intended to be a comprehensive list of every format/model under the sun, just the ones found round the blogosphere that could (very loosely) be called 'micro' - microformats, SB formats, RSS extensions/modules etc
See also: CustomRdfDialects EmbeddingRDFinHTML, GRDDL Data Views, Microformat FAQs for RDF fans, VocabularyMarket, SchemaWeb, GRDDL Micromodels for Use Cases grddlmicromodels, GrddlAtom
It seems to me that if you have a notation, and a well-defined transformation from that notation to RDF, then what you've defined is, whatever else it might be, simply a non-RDF/XML notation for RDF. After all, what's RDF/XML? It's an XML notation with a defined tranformation from that notation to RDF. There just happens to be a W3C spec for it.
(Comments below)
By Format
Micromodels from HTML formats (microformat style)
Format | Domain | Model | Mapping |
DC | Document/Content Metadata | Dublin Core | dc-extract.xsl |
XFN | Social Networks | FOAF * | grokXFN.xsl |
hCard | People | FOAF | ? |
hCalendar | Calendars and Events | RDF Calendar | glean-hcal.xsl |
hReview | Opinions, Ratings and Reviews | RDF Review | hreview2rdfxml.xsl |
relLicense | Licenses | Creative Commons | http://www.w3.org/2003/12/rdf-in-xhtml-xslts/grokCC.xsl |
relTag | Tags, Keywords, Categories | Tag Ontology | ? |
XOXO | Lists and Outlines | ? | ? |
hDOAP | Projects | DOAP | hdoap2doap.xsl |
hAtom | Syndication | Atom/OWL? | ? |
? | Media | ? | ? |
? | Geographic | ? | ? |
Attention.xml | Attention | attention | Attention RDF |
- it's been noted that XFN mostly maps
Comments
[in response to Manolo quote]
Not necessarily, because the micromodel may not cover all of RDF. -- DavidBooth
-- an RDF/XML document doesn't have to cover all of RDF (note also EmbeddedRdf) -- DannyAyers
RDF/XML is unusable (see The 16 faces of Eve) - this is why MicroFormats are needed.
-- false, RDF/XML is used quite a lot (although microformats can offer a good alternative where appropriate) -- DannyAyers
-- also: It's not fair to compare RDF/XML and microformats as they both serve different use cases (plain data vs annotated text). One should rather compare microformats to RDFa. -- JiriKopsa