Tab-separated values (TSV) are a very common form of text file format for sharing tabular data. The format is extremely simple and highly machine-readable.

Source: ODH

All data has some structure, but ‘structured data’ refers to data where the structural relation between elements is explicit in the way the data is stored on a computer disk. XML and JSON are common formats that allow many types of structure to be represented. The internal representation of, for example, word-processing documents or PDF documents reflects the positioning of entities on the page, not their logical structure, which is correspondingly difficult or impossible to extract automatically.

A set of predefined re-use conditions in a digital format, preferably compatible with standardised public licences available online.

Source: OD Directive

A published specification for, e.g., the structure of a particular file format, recommended nomenclature to use in a particular domain, a common set of metadata fields, etc. Conforming to relevant standards greatly increases the value of published data by improving machine readability and easing data integration.

Structured Query Language, a standard language used for interrogating many types of database. See → query.

Source: ODH

A table of data and calculations that can be processed interactively with a specialised spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Calc.

Source: ODH

A service that accepts Sparql queries and returns answers to them as Sparql result sets. It is best practice for dataset providers to give the URL of their Sparql endpoint to allow access to their data programmatically or through a web interface.

A query language similar to SQL, used for queries to a linked-data triple store.

Source: ODH

The files of computer code written by programmers that are used to produce a piece of software. The source code is usually converted or ‘compiled’ into a form that the user’s computer can execute. The user therefore never sees the original source code, unless it is published as open source.

Source: ODH

An open source enterprise search platform. Its major features include fulltext search, hit highlighting, faceted search, real-time indexing, dynamic clustering, database integration and rich document (e.g. Word, PDF) handling.