Linked Data has established itself as the de facto means for the publication of structured data over the Web, enjoying amazing growth in terms of the number of organizations committing to use its core principles for exposing and interlinking data sets for seamless exchange, integration, and reuse. More and more ICT ventures offer innovative data management services on top of Linked (Open) Data, creating a demand for data practitioners possessing skills and detailed knowledge in this area. Ensuring the availability of such expertise will prove crucial if European businesses are to reap the full benefits of these advanced data management technologies, and the know-how accumulated over the past years by researchers, technology enthusiasts and early adopters in various European Member States.

EUCLID will contribute to this goal by providing a comprehensive educational curriculum, supported by multi-modal learning materials and highly visible eLearning distribution channels, tailored to the real needs of data practitioners. Building upon the experience of the consortium accumulated in over 20 Linked Data projects with over 40 companies and public offices in more than 10 countries, complemented by feedback from more than 20 training events, and an in-depth analysis of the community discourse through mailing lists, discussion forums, Twitter, and the blogosphere, the curriculum will focus on techniques and software to integrate, query, and visualize Linked Data, as core areas in which practitioners state to require most assistance.

The curriculum will be realized as living learning materials on a community Web site, and will be evaluated, refined, and extended in a webinar series, face-to-face training, and through continuous community feedback and contributions coordinated by a designated community manager. A significant share of the materials will consist of examples referring to real-world data sets and application scenarios, code snippets and demos that developers can run on their machines, as well as best practices and how-tos. In its final form, the curriculum will be delivered as an eBook series distributed via iTunes U, complemented by the materials collected on the community Web site. By providing these key knowledge-transfer components, EUCLID will not only promote the industrial uptake of Linked Data best practices and technologies, but, perhaps more importantly, will contribute to their further development and consolidation and support the sustainability of the community - all essential aspects given the novelty of the field and the rapid pace at which it has recently advanced.