1. Chapter 1 RDF: An Introduction

   1. The Semantic Web and RDF: A Brief History

   2. The Specifications

   3. When to Use and Not Use RDF

   4. Some Uses of RDF/XML

   5. Related Technologies

   6. Going Forward

2. Chapter 2 RDF: Heart and Soul

   1. The Search for Knowledge

   2. The RDF Triple

   3. The Basic RDF Data Model and the RDF Graph

   4. URIs

   5. RDF Serialization: N3 and N-Triples

   6. Talking RDF: Lingo and Vocabulary

3. Chapter 3 The Basic Elements Within the RDF/XML Syntax

   1. Serializing RDF to XML

   2. RDF Blank Nodes

   3. URI References

   4. Representing Structured Data with rdf:value

   5. The rdf:type Property

   6. RDF/XML Shortcuts

   7. More on RDF Data Types

   8. RDF/XML: Separate Documents or Embedded Blocks

4. Chapter 4 Specialized RDF Relationships: Reification, Containers, and Collections

   1. Containers

   2. Collections

   3. Reification: The RDF Big Ugly

5. Chapter 5 Important Concepts from the W3C RDF Vocabulary/Schema

   1. RDF Vocabulary: Describing the Data

   2. Core RDF Schema Elements

   3. Refining RDF Vocabularies with Constraints

   4. RDF Schema Alternatives

6. Chapter 6 Creating an RDF Vocabulary

   1. How RDF Vocabularies Differ from XML Vocabularies

   2. Defining the Vocabulary: Business and Scope

   3. Defining the Vocabulary: Elements

   4. Formalizing the Vocabulary with RDFS

   5. Integrating the Dublin Core

7. Chapter 7 Editing, Parsing, and Browsing RDF/XML

   1. BrownSauce

   2. Parsers

   3. Editors

8. Chapter 8 Jena: RDF in Java

   1. Overview of the Classes

   2. Creating and Serializing an RDF Model

   3. Parsing and Querying an RDF Document

   4. In-Memory Versus Persistent Model Storage

9. Chapter 9 RDF and Perl, PHP, and Python

   1. RDF/XML and Perl

   2. RDF API for PHP

   3. RDF and Python: RDFLib

10. Chapter 10 Querying RDF: RDF as Data

    1. RDF and the Relational Data Model

    2. Roots: rdfDB QL

    3. Inkling and SquishQL

    4. RDQL

    5. Sesame

11. Chapter 11 A Brief Look at Additional RDF Application Environments

    1. RDF and C#

    2. Wilbur — RDF API CLOS

    3. Overview of Redland—a Multilanguage-Based RDF Framework

    4. Redfoot

12. Chapter 12 Ontologies: RDF Business Models

    1. Why Ontology?

    2. Brief History of the Ontology Movement

    3. OWL Use Cases and Requirements

    4. OWL Specifications

    5. Basic Constructs of OWL

    6. Bits of Knowledge: More Complex OWL Constructs

    7. The Complementary Nature of RDF and OWL

    8. Ontology Tools: Editors

13. Chapter 13 Subscription and Aggregation with RSS

    1. RSS: Quick History

    2. RSS 1.0: A Quick Introduction

    3. A Detailed Look at the Specification

    4. Extending the Specification Through Modules

    5. The RSS Modules

    6. RSS Aggregators

    7. Creating Your Own RSS Content

    8. Build Your Own RSS Consumer

    9. Merging RDF/RSS Files

14. Chapter 14 A World of Uses: Noncommercial Applications Based on RDF

    1. Mozilla

    2. Creative Commons License

    3. MIT's DSpace System Documentation

    4. FOAF: Friend-of-a-Friend

15. Chapter 15 A World of Uses: Commercial Uses of RDF/XML

    1. Chandler: RDF Within an Open Source PIM

    2. RDF Gateway, a Commercial RDF Database

    3. Siderean Software's Seamark

    4. Plugged In Software's Tucana Knowledge Store

    5. RDF and Adobe: XMP

    6. What's It All Mean?

1. Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal on the cover of Practical RDF is a secretary bird. It is a bird of prey and is related to the hawk. It is so named because the crest of feathers located at the back of its head are thought to resemble quill pens, which were carried by male secretaries in the 19th century. It stands between 3 and 4 feet tall, and has mostly gray feathers, except for its wing tips and legs, which are black, and its face, which has orange and yellow markings.

Although it can fly quite well, the secretary bird tends to spend most of its time on the ground. It lives off a diet of snakes, insects, and any small animal that might be easily swallowed. The bird usually kills its prey by beating it with its feet, using its long wings to protect itself from counterattacks. These birds tend to choose one mate for life, and also remain loyal to their nest site. Instead of leaving, they add to the nest each year; nests can grow up to eight feet long. The secretary bird lays two to three eggs at a time, of which the incubation is about 45 days. The baby birds leave home at around eight weeks. Mary Brady was the production editor and proofreader for Practical RDF. Norma Emory was the copyeditor. Claire Cloutier and Sarah Sherman provided quality control. Jamie Peppard, Derek Di Matteo, and Judy Hoer provided production support. Angela Howard wrote the index.

Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font. David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Andrew Savikas with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Mary Brady.