And a further thought: I thought part of the point of linked data is that
we don't really know what people might want to do with our data. Who
knows--maybe there is some enterprising CS student on your campus who will
make an awesome app using your real-time availability data. Maybe once
you've figured out how it works you can apply it to other things (ahem,
circulation availability, anyone?).

Laura


[image: Laura Krier on about.me]

Laura Krier
about.me/laurakrier
  <http://about.me/laurakrier>


On Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 7:07 AM, Mark A. Matienzo <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Per Laura's message, and what I think was the underlying idea behind Mike's
> post, I think there's still a great opportunity to learn something new.
> Perhaps you might want to look at WebSocket [0], and Jason Ronallo's
> presentation from Code4lib 2014 [1] was a great intro. It seems like this
> might be a good candidate for showing real-time availability information.
>
> [0] https://www.websocket.org/
> [1] http://jronallo.github.io/presentations/code4lib-2014-websockets/
>
> Cheers,
> Mark
>
>
> --
> Mark A. Matienzo <[log in to unmask]>
> Director of Technology, Digital Public Library of America
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 9:23 AM, Shaun Ellis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > I don't understand the "publish it and they will come" mentality when it
> > comes to linked data.  If you can't define a clear use case for your own
> > data infrastructure, then I can't see how you would justify the time
> spent.
> >
> > The "making data available to the world at large" is a nice byproduct,
> but
> > you can't write a "use case" for "unknown users" with unknown goals.  So,
> > if you have no plans to use the data in some productive way, then I'm
> sure
> > you have more pressing things to do with your time.
> >
> > -Shaun
> >
> >
> > On 8/7/14 9:48 AM, Scott Prater wrote:
> >
> >> 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!
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>
> >>
> > --
> > Shaun Ellis
> > User Interface Developer, Digital Initiatives
> > Princeton University Library
> > 609.258.1698
> >
> > “Any darn fool can get complicated. It takes genius to attain
> simplicity.”
> > -Pete Seeger
> >
>