Genealogy of a Friend

Why did I pick goaf.fr for those pages? Here comes the genealogy of a name, in other words a bit of etymology.
Remember Friend of a Friend? At the turn of the century, when social networks where barely a concept, Dan Brickley and Libby Miller set the basis for integration of personal data into the Semantic Web, which was not yet called the Linked Data Web. What remains of this project is the story of a very simple vocabulary, written on a napkin corner, which turned out to become a de facto Web standard, and a perfect illustration of the famous adage A little semantics goes a long way.
Ten years after the creation of FoaF, I started with Pierre-Yves Vandenbussche the Linked Open Vocabularies project. We needed a vocabulary to link vocabularies, and the choice for its name was pretty obvious. Vocabulary of a Friend was first published in March 2011, and is still alive and well.

A few months ago, when I wanted to create a place to publish my ramblings about genealogy and linked data, I discovered that goaf.fr was available. Just amazing, because one could believe that any four-letters domain name able to make sense would have been locked for years. But that one seemed to be waiting for me. I discovered later on that in the language of my ancestors, goaf means "spear" or "boathook". An ancient word, in an ancient language, for an ancient tool or weapon. I would gladly add it as a charge to my coat of arms, if I had one.