Freebase just had a major update, both cosmetically and in terms of features. Not sure when this got in, but Kingsley Idehen notes that Freebase is finally on the linked data web, one of the complaints that even those of us who have liked the service have had over time. (Update: Finally found the link to the Freebase RDF service)
One of the more interesting changes is the concept of Bases. What is a base? From the blog post
A base is a way to gather together information about a subject you’re passionate about. It’s a homepage for your structured data, and a community hub for people who share your passion.
Interestingly you can give a base a nice endpoint, e.g. yourbase.freebase.com. Existing methods for data modeling and schema creation stay in place. What I am trying to figure out if this is a play to make Freebase more of a destination site, something I have never quite understood, since the value, from where I sit, is for Freebase to set as a data service. Each base does get its own namespace, localizing endpoints and contexts (pretty nifty actually). This also some, although not a lot, of overlap with some of the stuff Twine is doing as well as with dbpedia. I need to chew on this. You can create bases around your data, but given the underlying data model and scheme don’t change, I don’t quite get the added value. Need to think through this.
The part I dig. I really like the new Make page, and the official release of Acre, the Freebase hosted dev environment, now available via freebaseapps.com. Here’s an example. Let’s see who in the Biogang does something useful with Acre.
Oh, although I am not sure I like Bases, did create one, bioinformatics.freebase.com. All yours
Freebase gets a new look and introduces Acre
Freebase just had a major update, both cosmetically and in terms of features. Not sure when this got in, but Kingsley Idehen notes that Freebase is finally on the linked data web, one of the complaints that even those of us who have liked the service have had over time. (Update: Finally found the link to the Freebase RDF service)
One of the more interesting changes is the concept of Bases. What is a base? From the blog post
Interestingly you can give a base a nice endpoint, e.g. yourbase.freebase.com. Existing methods for data modeling and schema creation stay in place. What I am trying to figure out if this is a play to make Freebase more of a destination site, something I have never quite understood, since the value, from where I sit, is for Freebase to set as a data service. Each base does get its own namespace, localizing endpoints and contexts (pretty nifty actually). This also some, although not a lot, of overlap with some of the stuff Twine is doing as well as with dbpedia. I need to chew on this. You can create bases around your data, but given the underlying data model and scheme don’t change, I don’t quite get the added value. Need to think through this.
The part I dig. I really like the new Make page, and the official release of Acre, the Freebase hosted dev environment, now available via freebaseapps.com. Here’s an example. Let’s see who in the Biogang does something useful with Acre.
Oh, although I am not sure I like Bases, did create one, bioinformatics.freebase.com. All yours