Strange Loop

Hidden Web Services: Microformats and the Semantic Web

The hard line between web pages (pure presentation) and web services (pure data) is finally beginning to blur. Companies as varied as Best Buy, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, TripIt, O'Reilly, and even People magazine have decorated their web pages with hidden, semantic metadata. The results are impressive: a 30% increase in traffic for Best Buy, a 15% increase in click-through rate reported byYahoo!, and dramatic Google PageRank improvements.


 In this talk, we'll explore popular microformats such as hCard (the HTML equivalent of vCard) for contact information, hCalendar (the equivalent of iCalendar) for events, hAtom for syndication, and much more. We'll use Java and Groovy to tease out the hidden data in plain old HTML pages for use in everyday applications. You'll also see how Firefox and Safari plug-ins integrate the browser with your address book and your calendar in unprecedented ways.


 This is not yet another staid, academic discussion of the future of the semantic web -- this is a pragmatic discussion of how the technology is being used right now to deliver real web services AND web pages at the same time.

Scott Davis