In order for the Semantic Web to become a reality and success, there needs to be data on the web published as Linked Data. However, data on the web is not a new thing. People have been publishing raw data for a long time as XML, CSV or even spreadsheets. Data can also be accessed through APIs.  But where does most of the data on the web come from? Relational Databases!

Today the data structure transformation terminology of Restructuring and Reshaping are used interchangeably for XML structure transformation processes. There are two basic types of XML hierarchical data structure transformations that need to be distinguished because they are different in meaning, results, and use. These are restructuring controlled by existing relationships in the data, and reshaping controlled by the semantics of the current data structure. Restructuring is performed by using new and unused relationships to restructure the data. On the other hand, reshaping uses the semantics of the current structure to mold the structure into any other shape without requiring or relying on any data relationships in the data. The processing follows correct hierarchical semantics principles to derive correct hierarchical results.

The non-obvious ‘second use’ of Excel is that of a universal data recycling bin for Organisational ‘reports’ and ‘data dumps’. Examples exist everywhere; the main reason is that it is just so convenient to do – everyone is an Excel expert when it comes to tidying up, sorting and generally asking questions that can be answered from within any one single spreadsheet. But asking questions that can only be answered by connecting many spreadsheets together is harder to achieve technically and yet the payoff can be large.