VanDev: Vancouver's Freebase

In March we have Jim Pick giving a presentation on Vancouver Base, Vancouver's Freebase social database effort. Following the presentation we'll have round-the-room introductions and open networking. This is a networking event so bring your business/contact cards and a story or two to share.

About the Presentation:

Freebase is a freely licensed social database, containing structured data about more than 4 million topics. Freebase allows groups to come together to gather and present information about the subjects they're passionate about, from racing cars to dog breeds to local politics. With a RESTful API and a hosted server-side Javascript app development platform called Acre, developers can use Freebase's structured data to build data-rich mashups and web 2.0 apps.

The Vancouver Base (see vancouver.freebase.com) is a collection of topics within Freebase, containing a wide range of 'hyperlocal' information, specifically about Vancouver, BC, Canada. The data is being collectively built using a Wikipedia-style community process, licensed into the Creative Commons, and forms one of the earliest, most cohesive collections of data about a single city on the growing Semantic Web.

Jim will show some examples of data-rich apps and mashups built with Freebase, Acre, and open data from the Vancouver Base.

About the Speaker:

Jim Pick is a freelance software developer based in Vancouver, with a long history of involvement in the free and open source software community. Currently, he is developing next-generation "Open Web" services, writing "mashups" that use them, and integrating the required backend infrastructure. Jim blogs at jimpick.com