Sesame 2.0-alpha-2 released

We've just released a second alpha version of Sesame 2. Major new things include:

• Java 5.
  All access APIs now extensively use Java 5 features such as typed collections. This not only makes Sesame's own code more robust, but also makes client code faster, easier, and clearer.
• Native Storage Backend.
  Sesame's B-Tree based binary on-disk persistence backend (a.k.a. the native store) has been ported to Sesame 2. So now we have fast, scalable and reliable persistence, and of course it has context support as well.
• Pull-based Query.
  The Sesame query model has been redesigned to allow pull-based querying: through lazy iterators, the client can now actively control when individual query results are returned (instead of having to passively consume whatever the server sends it).

More detailed information on changes, features, documentation etc. to be found at the Sesame website.

Elmo 0.2: Ontology Beans

Peter Mika announced the release of Elmo 0.2 today:

We are proud to announce the second major public release of Elmo: a toolkit for developing Semantic Web applications using the popular Sesame storage, query and inference facility.

Elmo provides a set of JavaBeans for a number of well known web ontologies including RDF(S), OWL, Dublin Core, RSS and FOAF. The dedicated API makes it easier to work with RDF data for the supported ontologies. The API is extensible and is expected to cover a larger set of existing web ontologies in future releases. Elmo also offers a set of tools related to the supported ontologies, including an RDF crawler, a FOAF smusher and a FOAF validator.

This release features significant improvements to the core of Elmo, increasing the scalability and efficiency of Elmo applications. Elmo is now also compatible with the Apache Commons BeanUtils package and the Spring Framework. Please see the changelog for more details and on information about migrating from previous versions.

Elmo is open source software and is distributed under the LGPL license. Download pointers and support for Elmo are available at: http://www.openrdf.org

A new job

(warning: ramble mode engaged) I've finally started in my new job at the Technical University Eindhoven. I've taken up a position as assistant professor in the Information Systems Group. Before you ask: no, I haven't left Aduna, but I've split myself down the middle - half-time at the TU/e, half-time at Aduna.

I'm expecting great things from this. The group has some fine minds working on combinations of database technology, hypermedia, and semantic web, and my own interests seem to combine very well with that. Even better, I expect that the interests of Aduna and the work at the TU/e will complement each other quite nicely. Everybody wins :)

There are a number of interesting projects running here. Too much to list in detail right now, so I'll just drop a few names. The Passepartout project deals with the notion of ambient intelligence in home media centers. The use of ontologies and semantic web technology will be very relevant in this project for doing things like user modeling, syndication, etc. Then there is Hera, which is an ongoing research program about modeling and specifying Web-based Information Systems, or more specifically, generating Hypermedia presentations from content metadata through use of ontologies. The current prototype HPG 2 tool uses SeRQL queries to do model transformations in a layered process where content is transformed according to application and presentation constraints to a presentation that fits the needs of a particular user or device. That last sentence needs either more punctuation or less buzzwords, but you get the drift, hopefully.