CSV-LD: Spreadsheet-based Linked Data

Comma-separated-values (CSV) is a useful data serialization and sharing format. This talk introduces the idea of CSV-LD as a CSV-based format to serialize Linked Data, mirroring the way that JSON-LD is a JSON-based format to serialize Linked Data. "CSV" here includes any dialect that uses a different delimiter, such as tab-separated-values (TSV). The syntax of CSV-LD is designed to easily integrate into workflows that already use CSV, and provides a smooth upgrade path from CSV to CSV-LD. It is primarily intended to be a way to use Linked Data as part of spreadsheet-based data entry; to facilitate data validation, display, and conversion of CSV into other formats via use of CSV on the Web (CSVW) metadata; and to build FAIR data services.

The term "CSV-LD" was previously used to describe a now-obsoleted precursor to the CSVW specifications; both approaches require a second file, a JSON-LD template document, to be shared along with a CSV file. The approach described here, in contrast, requires only a CSV file from the data producer, one that includes links to CSVW-powered metadata.