RDF+SPARQL is Data 2.0
Alex James had an interesting post about the future of data, in which he equates foreign keys to hyperlinks.
So a foreign key is a hyperlink (or url), but it has one MASSIVE limitation: the foreign key must point to a row in the SAME database. Not much good for the web I think you will agree!
Continuing with the webpage analogy: this is a hyperlink to another page on the same site. Or somewhat more formally, but less accurately, you can think of it as a RELATIVE hyperlink, i.e. something like this: ‘/Table/Key’ rather than something like this: ‘http://Server/Database/Table/Key’.
Running blindly with this analogy some more: What we need to create ‘a virtual internet database’ is the ability to use ABSOLUTE hyperlinks too: i.e. allowing the foreign key to get *really* foreign and point anywhere that data might exist on the internet.
This is a really good analogy for the RDF-as-agile-database view of the world. It’s particularly nice since it picks up on the distributed aspect of RDF at the same time.
As I’ve previously asserted, SPARQL is key because it allows people to transfer their database skills to the semantic web instead of learning RDF-as-AI methods of querying (ie; cwm or LISP-style queries). But it also makes for a compelling analogy that I for one wil be using when talking about RDF in future.