Any FRIAM-ers have insights to this interesting query? -tom johnson
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dan T Keating <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 6:41 AM Subject: Re: [NICAR-L] How do you auto-create a network diagram? To: [email protected] The data structure described here looks like Semantic Web, an attempt to define relationships that will allow creation of automatic relationships and links that would not otherwise be apparent. We know in math that if a = b and b > c then a > c, but seeing that kind of relationship across data at different websites is not easy. Once data is in the Resource Descriptor Formt (RDF) format Object ==> relationship ==> Fact like Bill ==> lives on ==> Main St and Main St ==> is in ==> Neverland then tools can start to find patterns in the data. There's a db query languary for it SPARQL. I had read some on Semantic Web a couple years ago and seeing the data in this pattern made me wonder if there are more useful tools for digesting it. But zipping around the (old fashioned, non-semantic) web has not revealed much more than theoretical discussions. Maybe someone has put out a good tool for representing data prepared in this format, but I'm not seeing it right now. The most comprensible links I'm seeing right now are from Joshua Tauberer, the guy behind govtrack.us. His blogs on the topic are at http://razor.occams.info/blog/category/semantic-web/ _________________________________ Dan Keating Graphics Editor/Data, The Washington Post (202) 334-5047, [email protected] *"Skelton, Chad (Vancouver Sun)" <[email protected]>* 07/09/2010 06:29 PM Please respond to Discussion Forum <[email protected]> To [email protected] cc Subject [NICAR-L] How do you auto-create a network diagram? Hi everyone, So a colleague of mine has some data showing the inter-locking relationships between various people and companies. The data is set up in a spreadsheet kind of like this Name Relationship To John Smith Works For Tim Jones Tim Jones Donated Money to ABC Inc. ABC Inc. Employs John Smith ABC Inc. Hired John Smith She'll looking for a way to map all these relationships to try to get a sense of how these spheres of influence overlap. I know I've seen network diagrams like this before -- different points with lines between them, with text along the lines showing the relationship between the two points. I even remember seeing them in a course I took that dealt with RDFa syntax. I'm assuming there must be tools out there that can create simple diagrams from data kind of like my colleague's. Any tips on what tools we could use to make this work? Those that are free and/or web based would be best. :) Thanks! Chad Skelton, Reporter The Vancouver Sun *[email protected]* <[email protected]> Phone: 604-605-2892 Fax: 604-605-2323 Check out my blogs: *vancouversun.com/parenting/* <http://vancouversun.com/parenting/> *vancouversun.com/papertrail/* <http://vancouversun.com/papertrail/> Follow me at *twitter.com/chadskelton* <http://twitter.com/chadskelton> and *twitter.com/curiousdad* <http://twitter.com/curiousdad> ==================================================================== To unsubscribe from NICAR-L, please send "unsubscribe NICAR-L" in the body of an e-mail message to "[email protected]". Please e-mail [email protected] if you need help or have questions. ==================================================================== ==================================================================== To unsubscribe from NICAR-L, please send "unsubscribe NICAR-L" in the body of an e-mail message to "[email protected]". Please e-mail [email protected] if you need help or have questions. ==================================================================== -- ========================================== J. T. Johnson Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA www.analyticjournalism.com 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) http://www.jtjohnson.com [email protected] "Be Your Own Publisher" http://indiepubwest.com ==========================================
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