RDFa in Drupal: What it means for D7 theming, how to add semantic goodness to D6, and why it matters + Slides + Notes
Benjamin Melançon
Benjamin Melançon May 26, 2009
Abstract: 

UPDATE: RDFa in Drupal presentation download and RDFa notes.

RDF is coming first to Drupal as RDFa, inline markup of content, which puts the theme layer front and center of ushering in the Semantic Web.

We will talk about what RDFa is, how to get it on your site by hook or by crook in D6, and – following a report-back from the RDFa-in-core code sprint held in mid-May – what that means for your D7 sites, what still needs to be done for core before code freeze, and how you – especially as a themer – can help Drupal do RDFa right.

RDF(a) in Drupal core will help bring into being the long-lost Semantic Web.

HTML alone didn't bring our present interactive web. It took blog tools and content management systems (like Drupal) to make it easy to post, edit, comment on, and link to content.

Likewise, the web of meaning will arrive when online publishing tools (with Drupal in the lead) make it easy for people to post content and data with machine-readable meanings so our computers that can find, mash up, and store information– and use it to make inferences that help us to know and act.

Agenda

  • Overview of Semantic Web, Drupal, and RDFa (yes, we'll go over what the heck it is)
  • How to add RDFa to your Drupal 6 site today
  • Report-back from RDFa-in-core code sprint in Galway, Ireland this May
  • How RDFa will and might affect theming (themers' thoughts requested!)
  • What still needs to be done before code freeze

Goals

After this session, we hope attendees will understand:

  • Why many people are trying to put RDF in Drupal core
  • What some of the possible implications are for theming
  • What you can do to benefit
  • What you can do to help

Resources

Organized by benjamin of Agaric Design Collective; additional presenters welcome.