In a perfect world, where everyone uses RDF to represent metadata on the Web, ramm.x would certainly be of no big use. As a matter of fact, we—at least from the Semantic Web point-of-view—do not live in a perfect world. There exists an array of existing multimedia metadata formats that have been used for years in diverse applications. However, when one is after using these formats in the context of the Semantic Web, the options are limited. What is basically missing is a framework that allows existing multimedia metadata hooking into the Semantic Web.
Many multimedia metadata formats (as ID3, Exif, MPEG-7, etc.) are available to describe—on various levels—what a multimedia asset is about, who has produced it and so on. With the dissemination of User Generated Content, a need for deploying these metadata in (conventional) HTML pages found in blogs, Wikis, etc. arises. To enable the deployment of multimedia metadata on the (Semantic) Web (2.0), one valid approach is to use the RDF data model for a generic deployment (description) of an arbitrary multimedia metadata format. The step of RDFizing is called 'formalisation', in our context. To actually deliver the metadata along with the content being served, a new W3C Semantic Web standard—RDFa—is utilised together with a light-weight vocabulary. This allows a Semantic Web agent to determine the formalisation steps in order to, for example perform a validation, or carry out inference.
With ramm.x we aim at enabling existing multimedia metadata formats to enter the Semantic Web (see figure below). ramm.x targets at self-descriptive media asset descriptions allowing to apply the follow-your-nose principle. With ramm.x, we focus on the deployment of multimedia metadata. Pretty much as communications provider, we focus on the so called last mile—in our case the consumption and the processing of metadata. The figure below depicts this principle:
To meet the requirements, ramm.x (i) utilises RDFa to deploy metadata, (ii) reuses formalisations of existing multimedia metadata formats, and finally (iii) offers a light-weight vocabulary to enable tools to convert, validate, and exchange the metadata.
ramm.x in 10 sec reads as follows:
So in case you now maybe got an idea of ramm.x, we try to point out what ramm.x is not about in the following.
From today on you can choose between two options to learn about ramm.x: Go through the tutorial slides or watch a tutorial session on youtube—the lean-back way ;)
Today we have launched the ramm.x blog. The blog is thought to keep you up-to-date with the development of the ramm.x spec - we'll continue posting official announcements, here in the news section.
That's awsome. In the first 7 hours after the announcement,
more than 60 people had a deeper look at ramm.x pages (specification, use cases, etc.).
We are also happy to welcome new members to the ramm.x discussion group!
Next steps.
Some announcements and call for interest are pending. We plan to focus on the use cases
for now, and continue with the ramm.x specification thereafter.
We have been working very hard in the last days and weeks to set up a proposal for a new RDFa-based multimedia deployment specification: 'RDFa-deployed Multimedia Metadata - ramm.x' (read more ...)
For all the blog-addicted out there we have a blog, where we post day-to-day news:
http://rammx.blogspot.com/
ramm.x blog
To keep up with ramm.x development, you probably like to subscribe to ramm.x feeds:
http://rammx.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
ramm.x blog feed (Atom)
http://groups.google.com/group/rammx-spec/feeds
ramm.x discussion feeds (Atom 1.0 and RSS 2.0)
To get started with ramm.x, have a look at the following documents:
In case you want to have a deeper look into ramm.x and what you can do with it, you may want to view a full tutorial, comprising four parts:
Part 1 of the ramm.x tutorial
Part 2 of the ramm.x tutorial
Part 3 of the ramm.x tutorial
Part 4 of the ramm.x tutorial
As a matter of serendipity, there are related efforts one may wish to review as well:
The main forum for discussing the development of ramm.x is the ramm.x discussion group. You may also want to tell us what you think using rammx-spec@googlegroups.com, and maybe even join using the form below.
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Email:
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If you like to support the spread of ramm.x, copy the following promotion code and paste it on your webpage. The resulting promotion box is depicted next to the code snippet.
<div style="text-align: center;" > <a href="http://sw.joanneum.at/rammx/" target="_new"> <img src="http://sw.joanneum.at/rammx/img/rammx_logo_small.png" alt="RDFa-deployed Multimedia Metadata - ramm.x"/> </a> <br /> <a href="http://sw.joanneum.at/rammx/" target="_new">http://sw.joanneum.at/rammx</a> </div>
Note: In the promotion directory, further icons and logos are available
To obtain the metadata of this specification, follow the RDFa extractor link, a service provided by Dave Beckett.
Copyright © 2007 by JOANNEUM RESEARCH, Austria.
