Chapter 6 - Linking Data

Web 2.0: Concepts

and Applications

6Linking Data

Overview

Web 2.0 has become characterized by applications that connect people and technologies that link data

The Internet makes it possible to access information from any Internet-connected device– Web-based tools for collaboration– Web applications– Other technologies for sharing information

Chapter 6: Linking Data 2

Overview


Computing in the Cloud

Cloud computing describes how applications are stored and deployed on a network of Internet servers– Cloud represents the Internet

Cloud computing service providers offer server space and processing

Companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce often operate these servers for many businesses



Cloud computing includes three main areas of service:– Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

• Delivery of a networked computing structure over the Internet

– Platform as a Service (PaaS)• Delivery of a computing platform over the Internet

– Software as a Service (SaaS)• Delivery of software applications over the Internet

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Infrastructure as a Service: Computing in the Cloud

Consumers can store photos, music, documents, and other files in the Cloud– Public Cloud– Hybrid Cloud– Private Cloud

Many Cloud storage providers offer limited storage for free, and charge an additional fee for more storage– Freemium business model



A virtual computer is a Web application that provides computing capabilities



Using virtualization, one host machine can operate as if it were several smaller servers


Platform as a Service:Application Development in the Cloud


Software as a Service:Applications in the Cloud

The Web adds connectivity to many traditionally desktop-hosted applications


Consumer Applications in the Cloud Cloud computing makes it possible for companies to

offer Web-based versions of popular personal computer programs– Gmail– Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access– Google Docs– Google Reader– Google Sites– ZohoWriter– Microsoft Office Live– Sumo Paint


Consumer Applications in the Cloud


Business Applications in the Cloud

The Salesforce Service Cloud allows businesses to pay as they use services, instead of owning comparable software


Understanding Distributed Web Applications

An application programming interface (API) is a software module that enables software applications to interact with each other

Web services are APIs that Web applications can request to run over the Internet– Travelocity subscribes to the Weather

Underground service to integrate weather information on their Web site


Understanding Distributed Web Applications


The Structure of Distributed Applications


Examining Data from Web Services

Twitter APIs contain methods to search Twitter, obtain user information, and provide statistics on individual tweets– Twitter API Documentation

You can view the XML-formatted data from some of these methods by entering the URL of the method in your browser


Examining Data from Web Services


Computing in the Cloud with Google Docs Integrated SaaS suite of Web applications Free service to customers Users can access documents from anywhere

– Documents– Spreatsheets– Presentations– Folders– Forms

Users can upload existing documents Users can collaborate with each other


Computing in the Cloud with Google Docs


Advanced Cloud-Based Features of Google Spreadsheets

Google Spreadsheets offers an online editor called Google Forms to create forms for surveys

Users completing the survey view the form in their Web browsers

Google Forms stores the form and any other data as part of the Google spreadsheet


Including Live Data from the Web in a Google Spreadsheet

Google Spreadsheets includes Web functions that look up information on the Web and insert the results in spreadsheet cells– GoogleLookup– GoogleFinance– GoogleTranslate– ImportFeed– ImportHTML– ImportXML


Including Live Data from the Web in a Google Spreadsheet


Using Google Sets to Auto-Fill Cells Google Sets is a tool

that finds lists of related values

Enter one or two related values, point the mouse at the cell’s handle in the lower right corner, press CTRL, and drag the cell down several rows


Using ImportHTML

The ImportHTML function imports a table or list from a Web page into a Google spreadsheet

You need to know which table on the page you wish to import


Using ImportHTML


Using ImportXML

Displays XML data within a Google spreadsheet

Requires a URL of the XML feed and the XPATH for the requested data


Using ImportXML


Linking Data between Web Applications

Data can be linked between applications in a variety of ways– Facebook Connect– OpenID

Portal pages display customized online content from different sources on the same page


Linking Data between Web Applications


Linking Activities between Web Applications

Facebook Connect is a set of APIs that enable applications to allow users to share their identities and activities across many different Web sites– Facebook identity becomes single sign-on– Activity on these sites appears in Facebook status

updates


Linking Activities between Web Applications


Authenticating with OpenID

OpenID is an authentication service that allows users to sign on to many different Web sites using a single, common digital identity– Google– Yahoo!– Blogger– AOL


Authenticating with OpenID


Creating New Applications from Data in the Cloud

Mashups are Web applications that combine content or data from multiple online sources into new Web applications

Contents are continually updatedContent for mashups often comes from Web

feeds and Web servicesCreating mashups usually requires significant

Web development experience



Wordle is a mashup application that creates a word cloud based on the frequency of words in a specified text


Linking Data in Context: A Prelude to Web 3.0 and Beyond

Web 3.0 is the name that is being used to describe emerging trends that allow people and machines to link information in new way– Agents can make decisions and take actions

based on a user’s preferences

Many describe Web 3.0 as the rise of the Semantic Web– Intelligent software tools can read Web pages and

discern useful information from them


A Semantic Search Engine: Bing

Microsoft’s Bing search engine attempts to understand a search query in order to provide meaningful results

Bing infers meaning from a user’s search query– Mt Rushmore is an abbreviation for Mount

Rushmore

Provides preview of search results


A Semantic Search Engine: Bing


A Computational Knowledge Engine: Wolfram|Alpha

Wolfram|Alpha is a computational knowledge engine that tries to understand user questions and calculate their answers

Knowledge base is composed of verified data from public Web sites, such as the United States Census Bureau for population and demographics information


A Computational Knowledge Engine: Wolfram|Alpha


Structured Search: Google Squared

Google Squared adds structure to search results by providing the results in a table

Users can search for and display additional attributes by adding a new column and can add additional items to the category by adding a new row


Structured Search: Google Squared


Summary

Cloud computing combines the convenience of Web hosting with the flexibility of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS

Web 2.0 companies provide APIs and Web services so that others can access their data to create new applications and mashups that run in the Cloud

Web 3.0 will mark the shift to a Semantic Web


Web 2.0: Concepts

and Applications

6Linking Data

Chapter 6 Complete

Chapter 6 - Linking Data

Education

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