Daniel’s Blog

Yeah, you heard me right:

Linked Data is more important than the Large Hadron Collider

My points:

• I feel that the Large Hadron Collider is a bit of a waste of time, money and a big waste of energy (think of all the carbon emissions!).
  • Why do we need to know the very very smallest parts of things?
  • Why do we need to know what happened microseconds after the big bang?
  • Why not just analyse what happened if the Higgs Boson was and wasn’t found (every possible aspect)?
  • Face it: It’s not going to cure Cancer, or prevent HIV
  • Face it: we’re still going to be here whether or not the Large Hadron Collider was successful
• Linked Data on the other hand is incredibly important
  • Everything in real life (conceptual/abstract and objective/physical) is interconnected with everything else
  • We have a lot of data about everything, but it’s not interconnected
  • Linked Data allows for the interconnectedness of data, and therefore true computation modelling of everything. Which then allows for a real and useful insight into scientific (and artistic and historic) data!
  • Just imagine a world where you can easily browse through the history of the atom, and then delve into the science found on the atom, and then go deeper into the subatomic level, and then browse back out into the historic realm, finding out about experiments that happened and whether it had any impact on society.
  • Thanks to Linked Data:
    • a lot of problems can be solved before they arise
    • new areas of research can be formed
    • “recreating the wheel” can be prevented
    • a really interesting browsing experience can be achieved

So there we go. That is why Linked Data is more important than the Large Hadron Collider….

Sorry to the physics-geeks, but maybe you can gain something useful from Linked Data if you aren’t already. I know that some Chemistry and Physics people already have some Semantic Web / Linked Data research & development going on, and hey Tim Berners-Lee did start the Web project at CERN.

I fear that a lot of people within science and even computer science forget to look at things with Holistic eyes, as a lot of science and mathematics is incredibly Reductionist.

Greenbelt 2008

Greenbelt festival 2008 was really fantastically good! Michael Franti & Spearhead are an awesome band, as are Aradhna. Plus my church (Foundation Bristol) did a fantastic service where they told the story about the Tower of Babel using some funky music and interesting visuals (it was quite “New Media” style and “Emerging“) (”To Confuse is to Liberate!”). I actually feel more enlightened after the whole weekend, and Beki and I have booked our tickets for Greenbelt 2009 and are even thinking about running our own event!

At the event I bought a didgeridoo and a Peruvian Ocarina. I also learnt how to sing Taize, Iona and Gregorian Chants and Songs.

Linked Data SemanticBible

Development of the Linked Data version of the SemanticBible is going well, and a big thank you to Sean Boisen of semanticbible.com for assisting us with various things. I’ll be working on hooking the ontologies in with various other ontologies around the Linked Data Cloud.

Fishes

It seems like two of my oranda fish are “getting it on”… having lots of little baby fish is going to be quite scary. Not sure what I’ll do with them!

Hospital

I went to hospital this morning for my Dilated Cardiomyopathy (for the first time in Bristol), they took 7 tubes of blood out of me, gave me an ECG. They are also going to book me in for an Echocardiogram appointment and potentially a treadmill, they will also be sending me a week-long heart monitor device. Also, rather unfortunately, I’ve got to double up on my Bisoprolol (a beta-blocker) which means that I’m going to probably experience some periods of fatigue while I get used to the new dosage

Bristol Knowledge Unconference

Bristol Knowledge Unconference organisation is going really really well. I sent out a few emails to people on the registration list this morning, letting them know a bit more about the style and organisation of the event. And I’m formally publicising the following event structure:

All times are pm:-

• 2:00 - 2:15 : Arrival & Whiteboard Scribbling (for the set-on-the-day talks)
• 2:15 - 2:20 : Introduction to the event
• 2:20 - 2:50 : 1st Preset Talk
• 2:50 – 2:55 : Setup
• 2:55 - 3:25 : 2nd Preset Talk
• 3:25 – 3:35 : Break & Whiteboard Scribbling (for the set-on-the-day talks)
• 3:35 - 4:05 : 1st set-on-the-day Talk
• 4:05 – 5:05 : Setup
• 4:05 - 4:35 : 2nd set-on-the-day Talk
• 4:35 – 4:45 : Break
• 4:45 - 5:15 : 3rd set-on-the-day Talk
• 5:15 – 5:20 : Setup
• 5:20 - 5:50 : 4th set-on-the-day Talk
• 5:50 – 6:00 : Clearup
• 6:00 onwards food & drink at the nearby restaurants/pubs

It looks like one of our preset slots might be fixed, so if you’d like to do a preset slot and insure that you have a presentation slot then please do email me.

University

I’ll be starting my masters at the end of September, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m in conversations with a company who is willing to fund my masters project as part of a larger project (sorry, I can’t say more than that).

SemanticBible Linked Data: Version Alpha 1

I am very very pleased to announce something which I have been working on for a while which is the transformation of SemanticBible into Linked Data. Please be aware that this a very early version at the moment, and so if you see it break when you are looking around then I’m probably improving and enhancing it.

More information (and recent update information) is available on the Linked Data SemanticBible about page. But here’s a quote from it for you:

SemanticBible is an online Semantic Web version of the Bible, it has lots of facts and figures about the Christian sacred texts. Please do have a browse around.

A Brief History

SemanticBible started life as a project by Sean Boisen over at SemanticBible.com, but Daniel Lewis and his colleagues at OpenLink Software decided to help Sean out by providing a Linked Data based approach. The outcome was this service.

Starting URIs:

• https://semanticbible.openlinksw.com/bible/cgi : The Composite Gospel : holds information about the stories in the Gospels
• https://semanticbible.openlinksw.com/bible/NTIndividuals :New Testament Individuals : holds information about people and places referenced in the New Testament
• https://semanticbible.openlinksw.com/ontology/cgi : The Composite Gospel Ontology : the vocabulary for describing the stories in the Gospel
• https://semanticbible.openlinksw.com/ontology/NTNames : The New Testament Names Ontology : The vocabulary for describing the people and places referenced in the New Testament

As I said before, do expect it to break randomly…. but if it seems like theres something not quite right, or if you have any feature requests that you wish to add then do email my work email ( dlewis[at]openlinksw[dot]com ) or skype me ( daniel.lewis ).

Now for an incredibly Formal Blog Post. For equality I thought that I should open this up to as many people as possible, I’ve been pondering about making this blog post for a while, and I have even discussed the project with a few of you. Receiving my introduction pack and registration guide this morning has prompted me to write this post.

Intro

Many of you know that, I will be starting postgraduate study at the University of Bristol from the end of this September (2008). This will be a one-year full-time MSc course with project, the subject area is “Machine Learning and Data Mining“.

I would like to open up my project idea to an organisation in return for sponsorship of the course. I only ask for the cost of the tuition (£3950 GBP, which is currently roughly $7711 USD / €4982 Euros / $8032 Canadian Dollars / $8428 Australian Dollars / 323385 Indian Rupees / 830725 Japanese Yen / 52861 Chinese Yuan / 8102 Swiss Francs). In return the sponsor would have some say in the project itself, in addition to logos and names on all relevant websites and in documentation (negotiable).

I would (potentially) be interested in taking the project further after the project has been completed, this could be in the form of a business idea or another academic project. This is also negotiable.

My Project Proposal

I do already have an idea for a project, and have even written a project proposal which has been approved by the department. However, the content of that project proposal is negotiable and I could even change it completely depending on my interests/skills, the criteria for approval and also the sponsors interests.

The idea I already have will be an entirely new way of turning Free-Text into Linked Data, with the specific use-cases being very humanities (including anthropology and religion) based. But as said before, this is negotiable.

Course Information

The postgraduate course is officially titled “MSc in Advanced Computing (Machine Learning and Data Mining)”, it is a taught course but contains a full academic project. Topics within the course include Logic Programming (using Prolog), Bayesian methods, Natural Language Processing, Genetic Algorithms/programming, Neural Networks, Fuzzy Logic, Reinforcement Learning and some Bioinformatics content.

The official programming languages used at the University of Bristol include: C, Java, Haskell, Prolog, Progol… etc

Systems/Frameworks include: Weka, MatLab

A little about me

If you have just stumbled across this blog post, then you’ll be wondering about who I am. So a brief biographical summary:

I currently work as a Technology Evangelist for OpenLink Software dealing with Semantic Web/Linked Data technologies in addition to data portability, social web and database technologies. In May 2007 I completed my undergraduate degree with a 2:1 honours and a Double A grade for my final year project titled “Adding Semantics to Social Web Tagging Systems”, the undergraduate degree was a “BSc(Hons) in Intelligent Systems and Software Engineering” at Oxford Brookes University. My computer science interests are in the “Evolution of the Web” (so Semantic Web/Linked Data, the Social Web, Web 3.0, WUPnP and the Intelligent Web), Open Source Software and Open Data, Programming Languages and finally Intelligent Systems (mainly Logic Programming, Machine Learning, Data Mining, Agent Technology and Knowledge-Bases). I have experience in many programming/query languages, but some of my favourites include: Ruby, Java, Haskell, Prolog and SPARQL. My interests outside of computer science include: psychology, philosophy, music, religion and esoterica. I am a “Liberal Catholic Anglican” Christian and active/open-to/passionate-for Interfaith/Interreligious dialogue. I am a full member of the British Computer Society (BCS) and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). There is more about me on my simple homesite, my blog and my linkedin account, other information (including a CV) can be provided on request.

Important Dates

• Autumn Term: Monday 29th September 2008 to Friday 12th December 2008
• Spring Term: Friday 9th January 2009 to Friday 20th March 2009
• Summer Term: Monday 20th April 2009 to Friday 19th June 2009

I must have details about sponsorship as soon as possible, the final date for setting sponsorship up is Friday 12th September 2008…. and I really don’t want to leave it until then.

Useful (Official) Links

• Machine Learning and Data Mining Unit Descriptions
• University of Bristol and the University of Bristol’s Computer Science Department

If you are interested

If you are interested then please do let me know. I’m available by email or jabber… we can converse by phone or skype… and we can even meet up in/near the wonderful city of Bristol (UK).

• Email: danieljohnlewis [-at-] gmail [-dot-] com
• Jabber/GTalk: [email protected]
• Skype: daniel.lewis
• Phone: +447834355516 (UK specific: 07834355516)
• Current Location: Clifton, Bristol, England, UK (it’s in the South-West, about a 2 hour train journey from London)
• Current Time Zone: British Summer Time (GMT+1)

I will announce

I will announce on my blog when I receive funding. So if you don’t hear, then please do assume that I have not found any yet.

Many many thanks for reading, and I hope to hear from interested people soon.

Cheers,

Daniel