Background#
Before diving into ontologies and linked data, it helps to understand the basic ideas that make them work. This section gives a short, hands-on introduction to the core building blocks of semantic technology — the language that lets data from different sources connect and make sense together.
Each section builds on the previous one:
Ontology explains the ideas — how to represent knowledge formally.
RDF explains the syntax — how to write those ideas in graph form.
Linked Data explains the connections — how graphs can talk to each other.
EMMO shows the application — how we describe real scientific systems.
By the end of this chapter, you’ll understand how these layers fit together to form the backbone of interoperable scientific data — a language that allows humans, databases, and software to speak the same structured truth about the world.