W3C

The NFC Working Group has published a First Public Working Draft of Web NFC API. Near Field Communication (NFC) is an international standard (ISO/IEC 18092) that specifies an interface and protocol for simple wireless interconnection of closely coupled devices operating at 13.56 MHz. NFC enables wireless communication between two devices at close proximity, usually less than a few centimeters, according to three groups of scenarios; holding a device close to a wireless tag to exchange some digital information or data, holding two devices close to each other in order to exchange some information or data between them, making payments by holding mobile phones close to point of sales terminals instead of swiping smart cards. Learn more about the Ubiquitous Web Applications Activity.

A reminder for people interested in the joint W3C/IAB “STRINT” workshop: The deadline for submitting position papers is Wednesday 15 January 2014. The workshop pages explain how to submit.

The main theme of the workshop is pervasive monitoring and how (future) Internet protocols can be protected against it. See the workshop pages for additional topics and details.

The STRINT (Strengthening the Internet Against Pervasive Monitoring) workshop will be held in central London, just before IETF-89, on Saturday March 1, and, if necessary, on the afternoon of Friday February 28. The workshop is organized by the STREWS project, with financial support from the European Union.

The RDF Working Group has published today a set of eight Resource Description Framework (RDF) 1.1 specifications (6 Proposed Recommendations and 2 Proposed Edited Recommendations).

• RDF 1.1 Concepts and Abstract Syntax defines an abstract syntax (a data model) which serves to link all RDF-based languages and specifications. The abstract syntax has two key data structures: RDF graphs are sets of subject-predicate-object triples, where the elements may be IRIs, blank nodes, or datatyped literals. They are used to express descriptions of resources. RDF datasets are used to organize collections of RDF graphs, and comprise a default graph and zero or more named graphs.
• RDF 1.1 Semantics describes a precise semantics for the Resource Description Framework 1.1 and RDF Schema, and defines a number of distinct entailment regimes and corresponding patterns of entailment.
• RDF 1.1 Turtle defines a textual syntax for RDF called Turtle that allows an RDF graph to be completely written in a compact and natural text form, with abbreviations for common usage patterns and datatypes. Turtle provides levels of compatibility with the N-Triples format as well as the triple pattern syntax of the SPARQL W3C Recommendation.
• RDF 1.1 TriG – RDF Dataset Language defines a textual syntax for RDF called TriG that allows an RDF dataset to be completely written in a compact and natural text form, with abbreviations for common usage patterns and datatypes. TriG is an extension of the Turtle format.
• RDF 1.1 N-Triples is a line-based, plain text format for encoding an RDF graph.
• RDF 1.1 N-Quads is a line-based, plain text format for encoding an RDF dataset.
• RDF Schema 1.1 (Proposed Edited Recommendations) provides a data-modelling vocabulary for RDF data. RDF Schema is an extension of the basic RDF vocabulary.
• RDF 1.1 XML Syntax (Proposed Edited Recommendations) defines an XML syntax for RDF called RDF/XML in terms of Namespaces in XML, the XML Information Set and XML Base.

Comments are welcome by 9 February 2014. Learn more about the Data Activity.

The HTML Working Group has published Media Source Extensions as a Candidate Recommendation. This specification extends HTMLMediaElement to allow JavaScript to generate media streams for playback. Allowing JavaScript to generate streams facilitates a variety of use cases like adaptive streaming and time shifting live streams. Comments and implementations are welcome by 9 April 2014. Learn more about the HTML Activity.

The Government Linked Data Working Group has published a First Public Working Group Note of Best Practices for Publishing Linked Data. This document sets out a series of best practices designed to facilitate development and delivery of open government data as Linked Open Data. Linked Open Data makes the World Wide Web into a global database, sometimes referred to as the “Web of Data”. Using Linked Data Principles, developers can query Linked Data from multiple sources at once and combine it without the need for a single common schema that all data shares. Prior to international data exchange standards for data on the Web, it was time consuming and difficult to build applications using traditional data management techniques. As more open government data is published on the Web, best practices are evolving too. The goal of this document is to compile the most relevant data management practices for the publication and use of of high quality data published by governments around the world as Linked Open Data. Learn more about the Data Activity.

Registration is open for W3C’s online course Mobile Web 2: Programming Applications. The course starts 13 January 2014 and runs through 23 February. This course covers all techniques for programming successful mobile Web applications that can ship both online and in application stores. Participants have access to high quality content material and step-by-step instruction from expert Niall Roche. Learn more about W3DevCampus, W3C’s online training for Web developers.