Hyperdata are data objects linked to other data objects in other places, as

hypertext Hypertext is E-text, text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access. Hypertext documents are interconnected by hyperlinks, which are typic ...

indicates text linked to other text in other places. Hyperdata enables the formation of a web of data, evolving from the "data on the Web" that is not inter-related (or at least, not linked). In the same way that ''hypertext'' usually refers to the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...

but is a broader term, ''hyperdata'' usually refers to the

Semantic Web The Semantic Web, sometimes known as Web 3.0, is an extension of the World Wide Web through standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The goal of the Semantic Web is to make Internet data machine-readable. To enable the encoding o ...

, but may also be applied more broadly to other data-linking technologies such as

microformat Microformats (μF) are predefined HTML markup (like HTML classes) created to serve as descriptive and consistent metadata about elements, designating them as representing a certain type of data (such as contact information, geographic coor ...

s – including XHTML Friends Network. A hypertext link indicates that a link exists between two documents or "information resources". Hyperdata links go beyond simply such a connection, and express

semantics Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...

about the kind of connection being made. For instance, in a document about

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

, a hypertext link might be made from the word ''senator'' to a document about the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

. In contrast, a hyperdata link from the same word to the same document might also state that senator was one of Hillary Clinton's roles, titles, or positions (depending on the

ontology Ontology is the philosophical study of existence, being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of realit ...

being used to define this link).

Semantic Web

The Semantic Web introduces the controversial concept of links to non-data resources. In the Semantic Web, links are not limited to "information resources" or documents, such as the typical Web page. Hyperdata links may refer to a physical structure (e.g., "the Eiffel Tower"), a place ("

Champ de Mars Champ, CHAMP or The Champ may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Champ (cartoon character), an animated dog introduced in 1960 * The Champ, played on radio and created by Jake Edwards (radio personality), Jake Edwards * Champ ...

" where the Eiffel Tower stands), a person (

Gustave Eiffel Alexandre Gustave Eiffel ( , ; Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer. A graduate of École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway net ...

, the man responsible for the tower's construction), or other "non-information resources". The links in this article are hypertext, not hyperdata, and they all lead to documents which describe the entities named. A hyperdata browser (also called a Semantic

Web browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...

), is a browser used to navigate the Semantic Web. Semantic Web architecture does not necessarily involve the

HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...

document format, which typical HTML Web browsers rely upon. A hyperdata browser specifically requests RDF data from Web servers, often through

content negotiation In computing, content negotiation refers to mechanisms defined as a part of HTTP that make it possible to serve different versions of a document (or more generally, representations of a resource) at the same URI, so that user agents can specify w ...

or ''conneg'', starting from the same

URL A uniform resource locator (URL), colloquially known as an address on the Web, is a reference to a resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identi ...

as the traditional Web browser; the Web server may immediately return the requested RDF, or it may deliver a redirection to a new URI where the RDF may actually be found, or the RDF may be embedded in the same HTML document which would be returned to a Web browser which did not request RDF. The RDF data will generally describe the resource represented by the originally requested URI. The hyperdata browser then renders the information received as an HTML page that contains

hyperlinks In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference providing direct access to data by a user's clicking or tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with ...

for users to navigate to indicated resources.

References

{{Semantic Web Hypertext Hypermedia Electronic literature software

Semantic Web

See also

References