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Berners-Lee Deconstructs a Bag of Chips

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-do-this-with-teeth dept.

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.'"

5 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. Transmission of information through labels. by Janek+Kozicki · · Score: 2, Interesting

    that is news for nerds, since when? They talk about information and transmission of information, but I see nothing about entropy, shannon's law or even mentioning that the rule of markov chain applies here, and the amount of information transferred to the end user can be only worse or equal to the amount of information that has been put on the label.

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  2. Re:Gah by h4rm0ny · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Well as it's already spoiled for you, I might as well look at his analogy further. I'm not sure exactly what point he thinks he's making here, but what it says to me is that people don't look at the ingredients list or where things come from. They just look at the branding on the front. That's important for the minority of groups that actually produce content on the Internet. Nobody will think of you. They'll just see Yahoo or Google or Gizmodo or whatever slapped on the front of what you make and that's as far as it goes. You don't have to do anything other than package up other people's ingredients and sell it as your own to make a profit. Just ask Slashdot. ;)

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  3. Earlier that morning... by BlindSpot · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Oh shit, my speech, I forgot all about it! I shouldn't have stayed out drinking until 2am last night..."
    "Must find inspiration, quickly..."
    *sees chip bag in garbage*
    "Ah, a chip bag! Maybe I can use this somehow..."
    *scrawls some notes*
    "Hey this might just work..."
    *15 minutes of feverish writing*
    "YES! An entire speech on linked open data based on a bag of chips. My career is safe!"
    "Hey, maybe I'll even get a few cases from Utz as a thank you for mentioning them..."

  4. Re:I'm English you insensitive clod! by mcgrew · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There are over* 305,000,000 people who call them "potato chips" and only 61,126,832 people who call them "crisps". You're outnumbered five to one.

    And unlike tyres, they were invented by an American.

    *Probably more, since I'm sure Americans aren't the only ones who call them "chips".

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  5. Photo gallary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    here