Linked Open Data at NYPL Labs

I'm just back from a brown bag session on linked open data that was sponsored by NYPL Labs (which is "an experimental unit at the Library working at the intersection of collections, technology and the digital humanities"). The crowd more than filled the room and included, in addition to our contingent of four from NYU, folks from Columbia, Fordham, and CUNY, as well as the International Center of Photography and the New York Times, to name a few. NYPL's brand-new president even attended! Clearly, linked open data is a topic of interest. The presenter, Jon Voss of Historypin, made good on the program's promise to be a basic overview, and he didn't overwhelm us with too much content to absorb over lunch on a blisteringly hot summer day. He included several slides at strategic moments that listed the key 3 or 5 points (the 5 were actually Tim Berners-Lee's 5 stars) that he wanted us to take away from the presentation. Voss also mentioned a book that he credited with changing the way he viewed things, Linked by Alberto-Laszlo Barabasi.