Today, we had a WSMO phone conference where we discussed the semantic annotations for RESTful services. I have presented the work done by Amit Sheth and his group on SA-REST (see the presentation below and my previous post).

RESTful services are usually described in a free-text form in HTML while service descriptions (i.e. service contracts) are not explicitly defined. In addition, when creating Web 2.0 applications (mashups), the problem with integration of data produced or consumed by these services is still a remaining issue. A developer must either implement a mediator or change the implementation of a service (if possible) to conform to integration needs. SA-REST introduces a novel approach to annotation of RESTful service description in a HTML using microformats. Semantic descriptions can significantly improve the data integration and automation of service lifecycle. SA-REST proposes to use W3C recommendation where possible, thus the annotation mechanism is based on RDFa and GRDDL

SA-REST, however, does not define any forms of semantic descriptions but assumes that such descriptions will be reused. In this respect, SA-REST is an analogous approach to semantic annotations of WSDL using SAWSDL. In the WSMO WG, we have recently done the work on WSMO-Lite (see our paper in ECOWS 2007 conference) which defines a minimal lightweight service ontology and which can be used for annotations of WSDL services by means of SAWSDL. This is the new approach to augmenting existing service descriptions already available (within or outside of enterprises) in a bottom-up fashion. However, it is important to note that WSMO-Lite is independent on WSDL (and SAWSDL). In this respect, we plan to use WSMO-Lite as a concrete service ontology for annotation of RESTful services, and possibly build on top of SA-REST. This will introduce the second annotation mechanism for WSMO-Lite allowing to use both, WSDL and RESTful services as mechanisms for invocation and communication. We call this annotation mechanism MicroWSMO.

The MicroWSMO together with WSMO-Lite are the core specifications of the upcoming EU funded project SOA4ALL.The goal of this project is to enable SOA architectures in the large-scale Web environment where semantics will play the central role in service provisioning, automation, and scalability.

I have recently purchased a Linksys WRTSL54GS router, and installed a third-party firmware called OpenWrt.

It is really amazing as I actually got almost a fully-fledged linux running in a very small box (see for example the packages available for white russian distribution of OpenWrt). In fact, I was always thinking about having a linux server for my home network management, however, I did not like the idea of having a big server (due to the power consumption, space and possibly noise). I have deliberately chosen WRTSL54GS as it is quite powerful (comparing to other devices in the area): 8MB of flash and 32MB of RAM, it has a USB port and is only around $100. The only drawback is that Linksys does not sell it in Europe so I had to get one on eBay from the US directly. With shipment costs it was something around 100€. An alternative would be for example ASUS, FREECOM, Siemens, etc., however they are usually more expensive, less powerful or they include HDD already. There is also an interesting book Linksys WRT54G: Ultimate Hacking describing various linux distributions for various Linksys devices as well as hardware hacking tips and tricks. This is a must have too if you plan to do more than just clicking on router’s management web interface.

So may hands are free to configure my SOHO network directly using iptables, cron, samba, and other great stuff which OpenWrt offers. With more devices on my network it will be even more fun to manage all…

With the need for integration of various data sources from various devices on the SOHO network, there is a joint initiative between DERI Galway and EPFL called semantic reality. The idea is to develop a technology for seamless integration of various devices (sensors) in ad-hoc networks. Although I am not personally involved in this project, I believe that linux-based firmware provides a great flexibility for functionality — the basis for integrated home building on open source software.