Notes from the Session: Structured Data for the Masses (RowanNairn) 

Opens with a discussion about Cory Doctorows (semantic web problems/semantic web is dead) and Clay Shirky (Many 2 Many solution could provide hope for semantic web) 

== Rowan Nairn demo

Rowan has a prototype web application that stems from some of the same ideas outlined in Clay's approach: 

A bookark keeper for anything (not just pages) Wiki database - a general backend database versioned on a micro-level 

* Spreasheet oriented web page 
* Creating a wiki-based database 
* Database versioned on a micro level 
* Collaborative online spreadsheet 
* Generalized bookmarking (like 43places) - but more difficult to make work than specialized ones - but you don't have to create specialized ones for every class of object 
* Ability to add any piece of data on a web page and tag it (for example, searching for cameras, you could add the key values (price/zoom/powersource) into the dbwiki 

RossMayfield discussed vertical information assembly (coding) vs. horizontal (wiki). WM-data coming out of the wikimania event in Frankfurt 

Popularity vs. trust was discussed in managing or policing the validity of data 

RossMayfield discussed using social network as a filter - reputation experiment within wiki example: omidyar.net/home explicit reputation system - give out to different people. (see also [http://wikifeatures.wiki.taoriver.net/moin.cgi/RatedPages WikiFeatures:RatedPages], where this feature has recently been cataloged)

== Chao Lam demo

Next we saw a demo from Chao Lam 

* Open Record 0.1 - a tool for web-based peer production
* open source project - 3 part-time programmers - 1200 hours
* A content management system used for structured wiki applications
* Nav-bar - wiki-like page different views
* Collaboration website
* Editable pages - editable tables - ajaxy interface - open source

More info: 

* http://openrecord.org - very cool - check it out
* http://gumption.org/openrecord/demo/old_2005_08_17/meeting_notes/2005-08-18_notes.pdf

To get involved: 

* http://openrecord.org/dev.html
* send mail to Brian Skinner: [brian.skinner@gumption.org mailto:brian.skinner@gumption.org]

== RossMayfield and WikiWyg demo