RDF in Drupal roadmap and code sprint wiki page

Update: Sprint scheduled!

DERI Galway would like to host an RDF in Drupal code sprint sometime in May. More and more people are considering using Drupal for their RDF project, so let's get our ideas together and see what can be done to make the semantic web integration in Drupal easier. Please feel free to add your ideas, suggestions, comments, critics.

If you or your group would want to help funding this effort or to organize other RDF code sprints, feel free to contact me or leave a note here!

Goals of the code sprint

The RDF code sprint will focus on Drupal core and aim at integrating as much RDF semantics in it.

1. Extend Fields API to integrate RDF mappings for each field instance. The semantics of a field can differ from a bundle to another. This can be stored either in the existing settings property or by adding a rdf_mappings property to the Field Instance objects.
2. Modify the Fields UI (contrib) to allow RDF mappings editing.
3. Define the appropriate mappings for the core modules, based on the RDF core mapping proposal.
4. Patch core modules with the mappings defined above.
5. Export these mappings in RDFa via the theme layer and keep it as generic as possible in order to ease the work of the themers.
6. Add RDFa to title link and search results
7. Write tests for RDF in core.
8. Identify other non-fieldable entities in core which could benefit from being RDF-ized, and see how to annotate them. Comment is one example. Terms also, though they might become fieldable.(comments, files, node revisions, terms, users)
9. RSS 1 (RDF) in core. Arto volunteered to get started with that.

See a list of current open RDF issues in RDF issues in core.

Discussion

• Should modules be allowed to change these mappings via a hook_alter?

Participants

• Stéphane Corlosquet, DERI (organizer)
• Florian Loretan, HappyPixels (organizer)
• Rolf Guescini, Cerpus
• Benjamin Melançon, Agaric Design
• Stefan Freudenberg, Agaric Design
• Frédéric G. Marand, OSInet
• Mark Birbeck, webBackplane
• John Morahan, io1

This list is not closed. If you or your group have expertise in Drupal core development + RDF and would to participate, please contact me directly at stephane.corlosquet@deri.org.

Resources

• RDF in Drupal roadmap and code sprint wiki page
• DrupalCon DC 2009 - RDF sessions braindump
• Tokens & RDF in d7 - can they benefit from each other?
• A roadmap for RDFa in Drupal 7
• Drupal RDF Schema proposal
• DrupalCon DC BoF on RDF use cases and usage
• SKOS Integration to Drupal
• Potential RDF use cases for Drupal

Get to Galway

You can either fly to:

• Dublin and get a direct bus from the airport to Galway (3h ride) for 25 euros return or alternatively get the train from Heuston station in Dublin to Galway (30min bus + 2,5 train).
• Shannon and catch a direct bus to Galway (2h) 23 euros with Citylink.
• Galway and catch a cab to the city (~20 euros). Flights are more expensive and mostly from the UK only.

Ryanair and Aerlingus among others fly to Ireland.

Accommodation

• Sleepzone Hostel (Budget): Backpacker hostel close to the town centre/Eyre Square. Friendly staff and generally hassle free in my experience, though can be a lot of passing noise on the street outside. Free wifi in the spacious kitchen and lounge area, plus an internet room. Basic breakfast included in the price last time I stayed. Some private rooms, or you can sometimes get a whole dorm room to yourself if you don't want to share. A decent budget option.

• Westwood House Hotel(Top End): Just across the road from DERI Galway, on the outskirts of town. Quite upmarket. I haven't stayed here, but the restaurant is decent. Possibly a good option if you just want to visit the DERI building, but maybe a bit inconvenient if you want to get to and from town frequently?

• Corrib haven : 5 minutes walk from DERI, a nice BnB. Bacon / Eggs / Sausages for breakfast. Not sure if they have single rooms, the price for a double one is usually 35pps. They have a wifi access, but not working very well. There's another BnB in front of that one, almost the same prices. Yet, as for Westwood, it's a bit far from the city center.

• The Abbey House BnB - Just down the road from DERI, about 3 mins walking. Right next to the Corrib Haven (see above). The website looks a bit outdated, but the BnB is nice (I stayed there myself once).

• Snoozle's (Budget): Another backpaper hotel in the city center (2 minutes from the new coach station). Not sure they have wifi, but it's brand new and really clean, at least in the lounge / kitchen, I didn't try the rooms.

Discussion

Agaric Design Collective and the Science Collaboration Framework project would like to support RDF in Drupal with at least attendance. Regarding the three questions, our thoughts:

• A live in-person gathering would be ideal, perhaps preceeded by a virtual meeting which could be scheduled ASAP.
• Code sprint with a small amount of conference-style everyone-together presentations at the beginning to bring everyone up to speed on others' work and get on the same page.
• Core focused. There's still time! Set ambitious goals for core, and what doesn't ultimately make it can be moved to contrib.

The following 3 questions we should answer:

• virtual vs live Once we have a clear roadmap it should be possible to do virtual code-sprints, maybe we should just create an event and see how many people sign up?
• conference vs code sprint A lot of activity has been taking place in the Semantic contrib arena, so I imagine that a Semantic mini (un)conference where we talk about plans would make a lot sense to prevent duplication
• core vs contrib focused Core would be the best focus of a concerted code sprint, but May might be late for D7