A big boost for FOAF came today with the publishing of an new version in OWL of the Relationship schema. Authors Eric Vitiello and Ian Davis have enhanced and extended this classic with glittering array of new properties and a new Relationship class.

Schemas speak louder than words so here is the breakdown.

Terms inherited from the last version:
friendOf
acquaintanceOf
ambivalentOf
antagonistOf
enemyOf
parentOf
childOf
grandchildOf
siblingOf
spouseOf

New relationship terms to link foaf:Person to foaf:Person:
closeFriendOf
hasMet
knowsOf
wouldLikeToKnow
knowsInPassing
knowsByReputation
lostContactWith
employerOf
employedBy
mentorOf
apprenticeTo
worksWith
colleagueOf
collaboratesWith
neighborOf
livesWith
lifePartnerOf
engagedTo
grandparentOf
ancestorOf
descendantOf

Two new properties that link foaf:Person with the new Relationship class:
participantIn
participant

Derek, my developer, and I have been furiously recoding our FOAF files. I have linked to him twice using rel:employerOf and rel:mentorOf and have urged him to link to me with rel:apprenticeTo. He keeps muttering that rel:employedBy would be more suitable except that he hasn't been paid for the last two months. Honestly, some people!

Congratulations to Eric and Ian on this fine piece of work.