Semantic weblog posts with Movable Type

A combination of two things - individual archive templates and dynamic pages - allow Movable Type to easily make RDF versions of every post. Now that Piggy Bank is around, this has become very useful: instead of just bookmarking a blog post, a visitor can add the RDF data to their Semantic Bank.

Here's how I got it to work:

In Movable Type's Templates menu, check 'Set Each Template's Build Options Separately' and press Save.

Create a new template, called 'Individual Entry RDF'.
Check 'Enable dynamic building for this template'.

Paste in the following template code, adjusting the <dc:creator> fields as necessary:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rdf:RDF
	xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
        xmlns:rss="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
        xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:prism="http://prismstandard.org/namespaces/1.2/basic/"
	xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/">
	<rss:item rdf:about="<$MTEntryPermalink$>">
		<dc:date><$MTEntryDate format="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S"$></dc:date>
		<dc:title><$MTEntryTitle encode_xml="1"$></dc:title>
		<content:encoded><$MTEntryBody encode_xml="1"$><$MTEntryMore encode_xml="1"$></content:encoded>
		<MTEntryCategories>
		<dc:subject><$MTCategoryLabel$></dc:subject>
		</MTEntryCategories>
		<dc:creator>
			<foaf:Person>
				<foaf:nick><$MTEntryAuthor encode_xml="1"$></foaf:nick>
                                <foaf:mbox rdf:resource="mailto:<$MTEntryAuthorEmail$>" />
			</foaf:Person>
		</dc:creator>
		<prism:isPartOf rdf:resource="<$MTBlogURL$>"/>
		<prism:publicationName><$MTBlogName$></prism:publicationName>
	</rss:item>
</rdf:RDF>

Press Save.

Back in the Templates menu, choose 'Edit Archive File Options'.
Create a new Template/Archive Type Association:
Archive Type: Individual
Template: Individual Entry RDF
Press Add.
In the 'Archive File Template' field for the newly added Individual Entry RDF, put
```
.rdf
```
Press 'Save Changes'.

Follow the instructions for Enabling Dynamic Publishing...
The important steps are to create the 'templates_c' directory (chmod 777) then add this to .htaccess or a .conf file:
```
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REQUEST} ^/archives/.*\.rdf$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /mtview.php [L,QSA]
```

Restart Apache if necessary.

Back in the Templates menu, edit the original Individual Entry Archive template to add

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rdf+xml" title="This entry in RDF format" href="<$MTBlogArchiveURL$><$MTEntryID pad="1"$>.rdf">

into the <head> section.

Rebuild your site.

Think about whether this kind of individual entry file is the right place for your (meta)data.