Echoing others... the use case for linked data appears to be making data 
available to the world at large, unknown consumers, who may find a use 
for it that you never imagined.

Name authority services (like VIAF), catalogs of public resources, map 
data -- all these are good candidates for a linked data approach.

Hardware availability at your library?  Not so much.  It's hard to 
imagine a case where that information would be useful outside your walls.

-- Scott

On 08/07/2014 08:09 AM, Ethan Gruber wrote:
> I agree with others saying linked data is overkill here. If you don't have
> an audience in mind or a specific purpose for implementing linked data,
> it's not worth it.
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 7, 2014 at 9:07 AM, Jason Stirnaman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Mike,
>> Check out
>> http://json-ld.org/,
>> http://json-ld.org/primer/latest/, and
>> https://github.com/digitalbazaar/pyld
>>
>> But, if you haven't yet sketched out a model for *your* data, then the LD
>> stuff will just be a distraction. The information on Linked Data seems
>> overly complex because trying to represent data for the Semantic Web gets
>> complex - and verbose.
>>
>> As others have suggested, it's never a bad idea to just "do the simplest
>> thing that could possibly work."[1] Mark recommended writing a simple API.
>> That would be a good start to understanding your data model and to
>> eventually serving LD. And, you may find that it's enough for now.
>>
>> 1. http://www.xprogramming.com/Practices/PracSimplest.html
>>
>> Jason
>>
>> Jason Stirnaman
>> Lead, Library Technology Services
>> University of Kansas Medical Center
>> [log in to unmask]
>> 913-588-7319
>>
>> On Aug 6, 2014, at 1:45 PM, Michael Beccaria <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I have recently had the opportunity to create a new library web page and
>> host it on my own servers. One of the elements of the new page that I want
>> to improve upon is providing live or near live information on technology
>> availability (10 of 12 laptops available, etc.). That data resides on my
>> ILS server and I thought it might be a good time to upgrade the bubble gum
>> and duct tape solution I now have to creating a real linked data service
>> that would provide that availability information to the web server.
>>>
>>> The problem is there is a lot of overly complex and complicated
>> information out there onlinked data and RDF and the semantic web etc. and
>> I'm looking for a simple guide to creating a very simple linked data
>> service with php or python or whatever. Does such a resource exist? Any
>> advice on where to start?
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Mike Beccaria
>>> Systems Librarian
>>> Head of Digital Initiative
>>> Paul Smith's College
>>> 518.327.6376
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>> Become a friend of Paul Smith's Library on Facebook today!
>>


-- 
Scott Prater
Shared Development Group
General Library System
University of Wisconsin - Madison
[log in to unmask]
5-5415