[Developers] intro, meeting, etc.

[Rich Morin]

I've been using graph-based data structures for decades, so I
find Metaweb's basic notions to be quite congenial.  Although
I'd like to see a few features added (e.g., N-ary relations),
I'm trying to keep an open mind on whether they're necessary.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how to map Metaweb onto
(say) PowerLoom or other predicate-calculus-based inference
engines.  My suspicion is that this may involve RDF (feh!),
but other suggestions are most welcome!

FWIW, most of my work in this area centers around mechanized
documentation (e.g., of software systems).  I've written up
some thoughts about this in http://openresource.com/MBD/.  My
latest project in this area is Arti, a Ruby on Rails app which
tries to document other Rails apps:

  http://arti-ar.cfcl.com/
  http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/arti


I really enjoyed last night's Freebase meeting.  The talks were
great, and I had several interesting and informative chats with
Metaweb and other folk.  I'd be happy to see monthly Freebase
meetings, with or without free pizza (:-).

The venue was pleasant, but it was a bit strained by the size of
the crowd.  With some effort, about 50 of us squeezed into the
meeting room.  If the tables were removed, it might be possible
to handle 75 attendees, but really, a larger space is needed.

Sarah Milstein <sarah at metaweb.com> indicated that they will try
for another meeting "in a couple of months".  If anyone knows of
a larger venue that might be available, I'm sure she'd be happy
to hear about it.

Meanwhile, if you're in the SF Bay Area, feel free to chat about
Metaweb and Freebase (or whatever) at my Beer and Scripting SIG:

  Wednesday, September 26, 2007 (8 pm)
  http://cfcl.com/rdm/bass/

-r
-- 
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm            Rich Morin
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/resume     rdm at cfcl.com
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/weblog     +1 650-873-7841

Technical editing and writing, programming, and web development