Daniel’s Blog

OK… so we, at OpenLink Software, have just released “OpenLink Data Explorer (ODE)“. (Please see the ODE Poem which I have written).

I wanted to take the time to discuss it a bit more informally than on the ODE Site (https://ode.openlinksw.com/ is still evolving! So be aware that you might encounter some website changes, particularly over the next week or two).

At the time of writing the most current public version is version 0.14 and is available for Firefox only… but don’t worry there are plans for other browsers.

So, you’ll be wanting to know (in my own words):

What is OpenLink Data Explorer?

Well, it’s a browser extension which simplifies the exploration of all this lovely Linked Data that we are now seeing on the web! And that Linked Data doesn’t have to be in RDF or RDFa, ODE can sponge information from all kinds of formats/frameworks (such as XBRL, Microformats, RSS), websites (such as Amazon, eBay, GovTrack, TheyWorkForYou) and web apps (such as MediaWiki, Bugzilla). ODE is built on top of Virtuoso, which can be expanded to include further spongers using variety of mechanisms that includes: Virtuoso PL, GRDDL, Java, C/C++, PHP, and some others.

So whats the benefit of this sponging and then viewing?

Good question. Sponging extracts information into RDF, and then we can view it through the OpenLink Data Explorer. The benefit of it being in Linked Data RDF prior to going through the Explorer view is that, all data provided in Linked Data RDF is in some kind of common model, and therefore is a lot easier to mesh together with other data for comparing and contrasting in a particular context.

For example, you could go and view Barack Obama on GovTrack.us, and “View Linked Data Sources”… then add Hilary Clinton on GovTrack. You then can see a mesh of the two, which allows you to visually browse and compare the two US Senators.

Not only this, but ODE is essentially acting as a SPARQL endpoint for the everyday user (don’t worry if you don’t know what this means, it’s essentially a way of querying the web to provide precise context-specific answers), so you can shoot SPARQL across the Linked Data Web (whether its in RDF or not!)

Different “views” on data will also be available, plus the interface is extensible using Fresnel transformations!

This all sounds fantastic, so where do I get it from?

We have an ODE site, which is currently evolving, but has lots more information than I’ve provided on this blog post, and can be seen as the official information: https://ode.openlinksw.com/

But you can get it directly from the Mozilla Addons Page for OpenLink Data Explorer: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8062

The explorer is free to download, install and use… and like I said before, if you encounter any bugs then do let us know and we’ll do something about it as soon as we can.

Very Quick Guide to Using:

Go to a web page.

• Then go to the “View” menu, and then click “View Linked Data Sources”.
• OR, Right-Click (or Ctrl-Click on Mac) a web document or a hyperlink and then select “View Linked Data Sources”

A new tab will open with the “OpenLink Data Explorer” User Interface, where you will be able to browse through the data. There are also some other views, such as “Who” (which is for People Profiles), “Where” (which is for locations, and shows a map), “When” (which is for events), “Tag Cloud” (which shows tags in the familiar cloud format) and an “SVG Graph” (which shows, graphically, how all of the data in the Data Explorer is related).

You don’t have to use the “View Linked Data Sources” through the “OpenLink Data Explorer” built into the Extension. It’s possible to change it to:

• Any other server or localhost OpenLink Data Explorer installation (provided on every recently updated Virtuoso Instance)
• Zitgist Data Viewer
• Triplr

You can do this in the preference window, which is accessed: Go to the “Tools” menu, and then click “Add-ons”, then highlight “OpenLink Data Explorer” and click the “Preferences” button. You’ll then see the options for doing this.

My verdict

The OpenLink Data Explorer is an excellent addition to my browsing experience. I’m finding that I’m using it more and more each day, and trust me, I’m not saying this because I work for OpenLink Software… I actually genuinely would use this tool, even if I was working elsewhere. I think you have to try it to really understand the power of it fully.

This is the beginning of very powerful WUPnP components, which are glued together using WDSNs (aka HTTP URIs).

Make sure you see:

https://ode.openlinksw.com/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8062