[Discuss] Freebase -- new data modeling and query system.

[Darren Duncan]

At 12:07 PM -0400 7/28/07, Chris Halsall wrote:
>Are any of you aware of Freebase, Danny Hillis' latest brilliant idea?
>  Please check out:
>
>    http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/03/freebase_will_p_1.html
>
>...for some information.
>
>If anyone here is interested in giving it a try, please let me know
>what you would do with access (as in, what data would you model and
>contribute).  I've been given a very few invites which I'm willing to
>share with people who would actually use the system.

I wouldn't consider the idea too original, even though it looks useful.

If nothing else because everything that is being touted about it as 
innovative is a subset of what I've already been working on making 
myself over the last 7-9 years, though admittedly I'm being slower in 
delivering something on it.

My project is essentially a user-friendly ontological modeller, with 
early intent for it to be used by researchers such as genealogy, 
other sciences, city archives and libraries, to organize both data 
and sources for such.  Its focus is on accuracy and is targeted at 
professionals, though technically for consumers.

This is another part of the bigger picture of "Muldis" 
(Multi-Universe of Discourse) named projects, beyond the SQL 
replacement that is coming first as a prerequisite for the others.

That said, my emphasis is providing this as a software product that 
people can install on their own machines, but it is multi-user saavy 
and could drive so-called Web X sites, and it is assumed most users 
will often make their data shared.

Sorry for that blatent vaporware plug, but I thought I should get my 
point out there (again), before someone thinks what I end up with is 
a clone of Freebase or whatever.

-- Darren Duncan