Internet Alchemy

Ian Davis is an innovative technologist, active on the Internet since the early nineties. His primary area of interest is around open data and the Semantic Web, with more emphasis on the Web and its network effects than on semantics. He advocates the use of Web standards including HTTP, URIs and RDF to build scalable distributed applications and prefers to use agile development practices especially test-first design. In 2000 he was co-author of the RSS 1.0 specification and has contributed to many RDF-related developments including vocabularies, frameworks, specifications and standards. He has founded three technology startups in the areas of large scale search, syndication and semantic web architectures. In 2006 he authored the Talis Community License and led the work to fund and create the Open Data Commons.

Ian read Theoretical Physics at Royal Holloway College, University of London. He currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer of Talis, leading the company’s platform strategy. Ian writes a personal blog, Internet Alchemy, where he has written on technology, software development and the semantic web since 1999. He also contributes to Talis group blogs Nodalities and n². He can be contacted by email at nospam@iandavis.com or ian.davis@talis.com.