W3C RDF and OWL Event

RDF and OWL are two important Semantic Web technologies.

Semantic Web

The Semantic Web provides a framework for asset management, enterprise integration, and the sharing and reuse of network data.

The Semantic Web provides a framework for data sharing between enterprises, applications, companies, groups, and individuals, independent of platforms and software.

RDF and OWL are key technologies of the Semantic Web. They respectively describe structural descriptions and ontologies based on the World Wide Web.

RDF - Resource Description Framework

RDF is a language for expressing information on the World Wide Web.

RDF can be used to describe web resources, such as titles, authors, version information, content descriptions, available schedules, and so on.

If you need to learn more about RDF, please visit our RDF Tutorial.

OWL - Web Ontology Language

OWL is a language for defining ontologies.

Ontologies can describe a domain of knowledge. They can be used by humans or software to share information about objects, which can be cars, houses, machines, books, products, financial transactions, and so on.

OWL is designed to process information (not real information).

If you need to learn more about OWL, please visit our RDF Tutorial.

SPARQL - Query Language for RDF

SPARQL is a standard query language for RDF data, providing developers with a way to write programs that query RDF information across the wide area of the WEB.

W3C Standards and Timeline

Standard Draft/Proposal Recommendation
RDF Primer   February 10, 2004
RDF Test Cases   February 10, 2004
RDF Concept   February 10, 2004
RDF Semantics   February 10, 2004
RDF Schema   February 10, 2004
RDF Syntax   February 10, 2004
OWL Overview   February 10, 2004
OWL Guide   February 10, 2004
OWL Reference   February 10, 2004
OWL Syntax   February 10, 2004
OWL Test Cases   February 10, 2004
OWL Use Cases   February 10, 2004
Parsing OWL in RDF January 21, 2004  
SPARQL Requirements March 25, 2005  
SPARQL Language   January 15, 2008

W3C Reference

W3C Semantic Web Activities