Abstract
Blank nodes are defined in RDF as ‘existential variables’ in the same way that has been used before in mathematical logic. However, evidence suggests that actual usage of RDF does not follow this definition. In this paper we thoroughly cover the issue of blank nodes, from incomplete information in database theory, over different treatments of blank nodes across the W3C stack of RDF-related standards, to empirical analysis of RDF data publicly available on the Web. We then summarize alternative approaches to the problem, weighing up advantages and disadvantages, also discussing proposals for Skolemization.
The work presented in this report has been funded in part by Science Foundation Ireland under Grant No. SFI/08/CE/I1380 (Líon-2), by an IRCSET postgraduate grant, by Marie Curie action IRSES under Grant No. 24761 (Net2), and by FONDECYT grant No. 1090565.
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Mallea, A., Arenas, M., Hogan, A., Polleres, A. (2011). On Blank Nodes. In: Aroyo, L., et al. The Semantic Web – ISWC 2011. ISWC 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7031. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25073-6_27
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