Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Performance
On the administrative side, running MediaWiki as a server requires
maintenance tasks such as keeping up with updates of extensions,
managing custom code when necessary, and most importantly, tuning
performance through various caching techniques at the database, PHP
and web server levels [13]. Beyond simple performance tuning, scalability
becomes a concern as the wiki grows. At this stage of development,
KnowIt is far from reaching its limit. Wikis such as Proteopedia [14] are
ten times larger with no noticeable performance issue. A wide range of
options are available to evolve the architecture of the system with
increasing demands, from investigating cloud-based deployments to
distributing content across a network of synchronised databases or making
heavier use of triple stores as more effi cient storage and query solutions.
16.3.11 Linked data integration
With its many options to import and export content, Semantic MediaWiki
is a good platform for data integration. In an encyclopaedia model, wiki
pages become starting places around a topic, hubs to and from multiple
resources. The wiki provides the means to bring content from remote
sources together and augment it with annotations. Information about
these sources still has to be collected manually, starting with the locations
of the data sources, the formats of data they contain and proper credential
or access rights. Once sources of content are identifi ed, synchronisation of
remote content with local annotations may become necessary. By providing
a uniform Application Programming Interface (API) and support for
multiple vocabularies, Linked Data principles can help simplify such
synchronisations. Linked data is a term used to describe assertions encoded
in a semantic format that is compatible with both humans and computers
(and is discussed in Chapter 19 by Bildtsen et al. and Chapter 18 by Wild).
The greatest source of fl exibility in Semantic MediaWiki, and an under-
utilised feature, is its capacity to produce and consume Linked Data.
Authoring Linked Data with Semantic Mediawiki
As of Semantic MediaWiki 1.6, semantic annotations can be stored
directly in any SPARQL 1.1 compatible triple store. This will enable an
easier integration with third-party triple stores. Earlier versions relied on
a triple store connector, which provided live synchronisation of wiki
Search WWH ::
Custom Search