Berners-Lee Deconstructs a Bag of Chips

itwbennett writes "At the O'Reilly Gov 2.0 Expo, being held this week in Washington, DC, Tim Berners-Lee compared the concept of linked open data to a bag of Utz Kettle Classics Crunchy Potato chips: 'The outside of the bag contains different sets of information, each using a different vocabulary and coming from a different source, Berners-Lee explained. The front of the package displays the name of the brand and the company's own marketing claim that the chips are crunchy. The back of the package has nutritional information, such as calories and vitamins, defined by terms generated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Finally, there is a Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code on the bottom of the package, which is not understood by humans at all but rather is recognized by scanning machines globally as the moniker for the item. In other words, this single package of information actually is a collection of data and attributes that have been developed by multiple parties, not just Utz.'"

Comments

You say Potato - I say Big Brother

[Wormfoud]

Yes, but my bag of Potato chips does not relay the number of chips and their associated calories and fat content back to the vendor, who then sells the information to my health care provider who then raises my rates because I am a risky eater. (At least, not yet....)

Re:Crisps

[jedidiah]

> French Fries and English Chips are not the same thing.

This is probably going to be the most absurdly funny thing posted all week.

Since forever

[Pharmboy]

Transmission of information through labels.....that is news for nerds, since when?

Since it concerns Sir Tim, the guy who literally invented the web. If Linus Torvald was hired to design the new Chevy Camero, it would also be news worthy on /. When important people in the technology industry do interesting things that may or may not be directly related to actually compiling code, some of us nerds like to know.

Re:Since forever

[WillDraven]

It amazes me sometimes when people object like this, especially when their own post refers to it as "Transmission of information!" How the hell is that NOT nerdy?

Re:Ironically

[imakemusic]

Makes sense. He's using an example that the audience can relate to.

Not really a good analogy

[ericlj]

He's wrong. Utz developed all the information put on the package (with the possible exception of the base part of their UPC number). Some of the information is required to be there by others, but they don't create the information. Some of the formats (the bar code, for example) are created by others, but they don't create the information. Further, none of that information is guaranteed to be correct, and the only party responsible if it's not is Utz.

Re:Not really a good analogy

[ogrisel]

The point of Tim Berners-Lee is to say that the vocabulary used to provide the nutritional information was standardized by FDA and related laws. ("defined by *terms* generated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)", emphasis mine). The valuation of those properties or terms on this specific packaging are produced by Utz. To speak the semantic web lingua, the nutrition info ontology has been authored by FDA while the instance data on the package was authored by Utz reusing the FDA ontology.