[Linux-aus] Grant request: Travel assistance for ODF+RDF talk at OLS

[Ben Martin]

IIRC there was some two week discussion window which ended yesterday.

Happy to hear other comments on this.

On Sun, 2012-05-20 at 17:55 +1000, Ben Martin wrote:
> Date: 20 may 2012
> 
> Project Name:
> Travel assistance to OLS to talk about RDF+ODF in both Calligra and
> Abiword.
> OLS is on July 11-13 in Ottawa.
> http://www.linuxsymposium.org/2012/speakers.php?types=talk,tutorial,lightning,bofs
> 
> Aim of Project:
> The ODF document format includes provision to store and associate one or
> more RDF/XML files inside the PDF zip file container with the document
> (content.xml). Thus, the format allows for semantic information to be a
> first class citizen in document computing. The catch is making sure that
> many of the document editing applications can offer the user a method of
> taking advantage of RDF simply and making the experience compelling
> enough that businesses demand RDF as part of their documents.
> 
> Simply, the aim is to move word processors from tools which arrange
> strings of characters to being tools which allow editing semantic
> documents. Then the document can know about who, what, where, why, and
> the relation between things. Tables of content can be supplemented with
> tables of semantic relations and logistics timelines. I think RDF in ODF
> gives the opportunity for the semantic web stuff to move onto open
> source desktops before it gains mainstream acceptance.
> 
> I have made inroads in both Calligra and Abiword to this ends, and am
> hopeful to attract interest at OLS to further and accelerate the pace of
> development. While I enjoy attending conferences as much as the next
> person, the main goal of this grant is to try to get larger companies
> attending OLS interested in RDF/ODF enough to help move it forward. Of
> course, I'd love to be a part of helping that movement too on the C++
> coding front :) Ancillary: if anyone wishes to hack on this stuff or
> knows projects which might like to use it, feel free to contact me!
> 
> I can see two ways that Australian citizens could benefit from this
> grant. I say could because the grant is to travel in order to try to
> gain wider acceptance, more hackers, and interest in the core idea of
> RDF+ODF. It is very hard to directly tie tangible positive outcomes. 
> 
> The first good thing I see would be helping to save people from being
> locked in to online "cloud" service providers for document computing,
> with their vendor lockin, variable T&C, and closed source codebases
> which disappear. Some of these offerings are trying to integrate with
> Web 2.0 to provide a more compelling experience for the user. This
> integration is exactly what RDF+ODF offers in a purely open standards
> way.
> 
> A longer term benefit would be having RDF on the OLPC write activity.
> The write activity is based on abiword, so could allow for RDF to be
> collaboratively edited by millions of children, a subset of these being
> Australian citizens. If RDF is accepted by children as useful, perhaps
> not at the triple level, but at a level that it helps do something
> useful, then it becomes a widely used and expected feature of document
> computing.
> 
> Person Responsible for Request:
> Ben Martin
> 
> Request:
> Return airfare to Ottawa in July ($3500 or below).
> 
> Orbitz has this pegged at $3300 to $3700 on a major carrier.
> A route not considered by them is:
> Brisbane <-> tokyo, Qantas      = $1150
> tokyo <-> ottawa  , AmericanAir = $1600
>                                 --------
>                                 = $2750
> And probably cheaper yet with jetstar, but also flight dates are
> critical to price and likely to change by the time approval of the grant
> may occur.
> 
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> linux-aus at lists.linux.org.au
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