alexmikro.net » United Kingdom

UK Institute of Web Science announced

Alexander Mikroyannidis — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:34:35 +0000

Gordon Brown announced yesterday the establishment of a UK Institute of Web Science, aiming to promote “cutting edge” web technologies. Mr Brown outlined this vision:

This will help place the UK at the cutting edge of research on the semantic web and other emerging web and internet technologies, and ensure that government is taking the right funding decisions to position the UK as a world leader. And we will invite universities and private sector web developers and companies to join this collaborative project.

Good news indeed, in light of the recent developments in the Linked Data initiative in the UK.

Raw Data Now in the UK update

Alexander Mikroyannidis — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:49:01 +0000

The implementation of Sir Tim’s “Raw Data Now” vision is well under way in the UK. UK government data are being released and the process is open for input from developers that may want to contribute. Open except from the fact that they have to join a closed Google group (a bit ironic don’t you think?).

Anyway, the data is now available in RDF and can be queried via SPARQL. You can find some useful examples of such queries from Leigh Dodds at the Talis blog. Happy querying!

Raw Data Now in the UK

Alexander Mikroyannidis — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:56:50 +0000

Good news from the Raw Data Now front. Tim Berners-Lee has been asked by Gordon Brown to help open up access to government data in the UK. Let’s hope this is not just a publicity stunt to boost Mr Brown’s plummeting popularity, but a true effort in creating a more transparent government. If this works, it should point more governments towards this direction.

In the meantime, critics in the UK point out the great obstacles such an attempt will stumble upon. BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones comments:

I fear Sir Tim may be in for a bruising few months, as he tries to convince Sir Humphrey et al to let it all hang out.

Clearly, a lot has to change in the idiosyncrasy of state officials for Sir Tim’s vision to fully come to life, but at least he’s been given this chance. Let’s just see how this goes…

A year ends, a blog begins…

Alexander Mikroyannidis — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:12:34 +0000

Last day of 2008; first day (and grand opening!) of this blog!

As we are in a festive season, here are some photos I’ve taken these days of celebrations in the UK and Greece.

Happy New Year everyone!

German Market in Millennium Square, Leeds. Lots of food, fantastic desserts, great mulled wine!

Christmas band in the charity bazaar at University of Leeds campus

Santa with his (real!) reindeer at University of Leeds campus

Christmas decorations in Patras port.