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Resource Description Framework (RDF)
Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a family of World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C) specifications originally designed as a metadata model
using XML but which has come to be used as a general method of modeling
knowledge, through a variety of syntax formats (XML and non-XML).
The RDF metadata model is based upon the idea of making
statements about resources in the form of a subject-predicate-object
expression, called a triple in RDF terminology. One way to represent the
fact 'The sky has the colour blue' in RDF would be as a triple whose
subject is 'the sky,' whose predicate is 'has the color', and whose object
is 'blue.' Predicates are traits or aspects about a resource and express a
relationship between the subject and the object.
This mechanism for describing resources is a major
component in what is proposed by the W3C's Semantic Web activity: an
evolutionary stage of the World Wide Web in which automated software can
store, exchange, and use machine-readable information distributed
throughout the web, in turn enabling users to deal with the information
with greater efficiency and certainty. RDF's simple data model and ability
to model disparate, abstract concepts has also led to its increasing use
in knowledge management applications unrelated to Semantic Web activity
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