In Semantic Web terminology, Linked Data is the term used to describe a method of exposing and connecting data on the Web from different sources. Currently, the Web uses hypertext links that allow people to move from one document to another. The idea behind Linked Data is that hyperdatalinks will let people or machines find related data on the Web that was not previously linked.
The concept of Linked Data was first outlined by Tim Berners-Lee in July 2006. In a published W3Cdesign article, Lee outlined the following four principles of Linked Data:
- Use URIs as names for things
- Use HTTP URIs so that people can look up those names.
- When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information, using the standards (RDF, SPARQL)
- Include links to other URIs, so that they can discover more things.
[Source: Linked Data – Design Issues, Tim Berners-Lee ]
