Raw

Henry points to an intriguing project: Intel® Mash Maker

I've added myself to the waiting list. As the phrase "semantic web" is used, I was curious to see if the project lead, Rob Ennals, had done anything in this area. Not as far as I could see, but the intrigue of Mash Maker is increased by his trail of hardcore LtU style programming language work - seems quite a contrast to the " implemented as an AJAX web application" it says on this other Mash Maker page... On his blog Rob uses the same phrase as on the front page:

As more users use Mash Maker, the database gets smarter, allowing Mash Maker to better understand how data is connected and suggest more appropriate mashups to users. In essence, Mash Maker uses the power of the community to enter the semantic web via the back door... 

This sounds great, though I'm curious if the collected data will be exposed via the front door, i.e. the Web itself. The connections between resources sound like they'd make a useful chunk of linked data.

Incidentally, in Rob's paper trail there's some Haskell stuff - seems a good prompt to mention Joe Geldart's Trinity Semantic Web API ( Developer Tools++). It is a neat language, e.g. Graham Klyne's exploration of Description Logics in Haskell has to be amongst the most educational source I've ever had the pleasure of viewing (though at the time I did have a book on Haskell+logic open on the desk - it's all since slipped out of my goldfish attention span).

Henry got the word from another Sun Semantic Web blogger, Josef Holy.