Weblog post plus permalink equals RDF

Posted by | August 18, 2003 | rss | No Comments

If you fill in a form to create a weblog post that has a permalink then you are creating something that is RDF-like by nature.

Subject = the Post itself, which is pointed to by a permalink.
Predicate = the label of any field that you have to fill in.
Object = whatever you type in the field.

The RDF/XML syntax can be hard – but the model is not, and no matter what the disputes surrounding its use are, weblog posts are an almost perfect application of some of the most important ideas behind RDF.

An RDF statement is like a form field and its label (e.g. name: david) that are a property and value of something unique, like a person. Conveniently, if there is a URL that is that something, or is the identifier for that something then the properties pertain to that URL.

When people post weblog entries, they often attach a unique url to that entry via a permalink. The weblog post, unlike a webpage, which can be a temporary rendering of the output from a database, is an item which contains meaning. Information is being published and retrieved in chunks where meaning, semantics, are being created or stored.

The fact that weblog publishing arrived here via a separate route surely validates some of the principal ideas of RDF, even if there is some debate about the specifics.