+1 from me on Ben's application <br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 5:55 PM, Ben Martin <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:monkeyiq@users.sourceforge.net" target="_blank">monkeyiq@users.sourceforge.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Date: 20 may 2012<br>
<br>
Project Name:<br>
Travel assistance to OLS to talk about RDF+ODF in both Calligra and<br>
Abiword.<br>
OLS is on July 11-13 in Ottawa.<br>
<a href="http://www.linuxsymposium.org/2012/speakers.php?types=talk,tutorial,lightning,bofs" target="_blank">http://www.linuxsymposium.org/2012/speakers.php?types=talk,tutorial,lightning,bofs</a><br>
<br>
Aim of Project:<br>
The ODF document format includes provision to store and associate one or<br>
more RDF/XML files inside the PDF zip file container with the document<br>
(content.xml). Thus, the format allows for semantic information to be a<br>
first class citizen in document computing. The catch is making sure that<br>
many of the document editing applications can offer the user a method of<br>
taking advantage of RDF simply and making the experience compelling<br>
enough that businesses demand RDF as part of their documents.<br>
<br>
Simply, the aim is to move word processors from tools which arrange<br>
strings of characters to being tools which allow editing semantic<br>
documents. Then the document can know about who, what, where, why, and<br>
the relation between things. Tables of content can be supplemented with<br>
tables of semantic relations and logistics timelines. I think RDF in ODF<br>
gives the opportunity for the semantic web stuff to move onto open<br>
source desktops before it gains mainstream acceptance.<br>
<br>
I have made inroads in both Calligra and Abiword to this ends, and am<br>
hopeful to attract interest at OLS to further and accelerate the pace of<br>
development. While I enjoy attending conferences as much as the next<br>
person, the main goal of this grant is to try to get larger companies<br>
attending OLS interested in RDF/ODF enough to help move it forward. Of<br>
course, I'd love to be a part of helping that movement too on the C++<br>
coding front :) Ancillary: if anyone wishes to hack on this stuff or<br>
knows projects which might like to use it, feel free to contact me!<br>
<br>
I can see two ways that Australian citizens could benefit from this<br>
grant. I say could because the grant is to travel in order to try to<br>
gain wider acceptance, more hackers, and interest in the core idea of<br>
RDF+ODF. It is very hard to directly tie tangible positive outcomes.<br>
<br>
The first good thing I see would be helping to save people from being<br>
locked in to online "cloud" service providers for document computing,<br>
with their vendor lockin, variable T&C, and closed source codebases<br>
which disappear. Some of these offerings are trying to integrate with<br>
Web 2.0 to provide a more compelling experience for the user. This<br>
integration is exactly what RDF+ODF offers in a purely open standards<br>
way.<br>
<br>
A longer term benefit would be having RDF on the OLPC write activity.<br>
The write activity is based on abiword, so could allow for RDF to be<br>
collaboratively edited by millions of children, a subset of these being<br>
Australian citizens. If RDF is accepted by children as useful, perhaps<br>
not at the triple level, but at a level that it helps do something<br>
useful, then it becomes a widely used and expected feature of document<br>
computing.<br>
<br>
Person Responsible for Request:<br>
Ben Martin<br>
<br>
Request:<br>
Return airfare to Ottawa in July ($3500 or below).<br>
<br>
Orbitz has this pegged at $3300 to $3700 on a major carrier.<br>
A route not considered by them is:<br>
Brisbane <-> tokyo, Qantas = $1150<br>
tokyo <-> ottawa , AmericanAir = $1600<br>
--------<br>
= $2750<br>
And probably cheaper yet with jetstar, but also flight dates are<br>
critical to price and likely to change by the time approval of the grant<br>
may occur.<br>
<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div>Refactor. Engage | Succeed | Repeat</div>tel: +61 (0)7 5668 3424<div>mob: +61 (0)414 464564</div><div>web: <a href="http://refactor.com.au" target="_blank">refactor.com.au</a><br>
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