Group 42

Freebase is an open database (CC-BY) of world information with a web service interface. Think Wikipedia with an API. I've been playing around Drupal/Freebase integration for a community project we have brewing, Semantic Web Community Barn Raising in Vancouver. This post contains some research results, in the form of PHP code, on integrating Freebase and Drupal.

This code is intended as a proof-of-concept example and jumping off point for other developers. It is not intended as an example of production-ready code.

If you have feedback or a better method, please leave a comment!

Freebase Background

Those of you familiar with Freebase can skip this part. If not, read on!

Freebase uses the Metaweb database. The Metaweb database is not a row/column style relational database, data is organized as an object graph. Documentation on Metaweb architecture is available at the Freebase reference guide: Chapter 2. Metaweb Architecture.

The language used to query Freebase is the Metaweb Query Language, MQL. MQL queries are written in JSON, and are nothing like SQL. The Metaweb documentation page, Freebase MQL Reference Guide, has details and examples of creating JSON MQL queries for reading and writing data.

Sunday February 22nd I had the pleasure of brunching with a group of Freebase enthusiasts. What's Freebase? Here's an explanation from the Freebase website page:

Freebase is an open database of the world’s information. "Open" means it's built by the community, for the community — anyone can contribute information, create collections of information to share with others, or build applications that use our API. It also means that the database is freely, openly licensed.

The utility of having a large body of knowledge available through an API is cool, but the potential for innovation through this open approach is breathtaking. There were some intriguing ideas discussed at the table and some funny stories around schemas people have created.

For those of you hitting DrupalCon, Boris Mann is apparently talking about Freebase, or at least mentioning it, in his Drupalcon session, Practical Semantic Web and Why You Should Care (or so Kirrily thought). It certainly seems like a good fit with some of the initiatives happening in the Drupal community.

If you're curious for a taste of what happened at the meetup check out my video piece (below), and for added authenticity pour a glass of your favourite beverage. You'll hear about some things people are doing with Freebase, the Freebase Community Coordinator, Kirrily Robert, answers some questions, and enthusiasts Jim Pick and Scott Blomquist describe their projects.