<h1 id="reference-node">reference node<a aria-hidden="true" class="anchor-heading icon-link" href="#reference-node"></a></h1>
<h2 id="definition">Definition<a aria-hidden="true" class="anchor-heading icon-link" href="#definition"></a></h2>
A reference node is a <a href="/sflo/notes/mesh-node">mesh node</a> that represents the (non-dataset) referent of the node — i.e., the thing in the world that the node stands for.
Purpose
<ul>
<li>To describe what the node refers to (person, place, concept, dataset, etc.).</li>
<li>To supply human/machine labels, identifiers, and minimal provenance about the referent.</li>
<li>To differentiate between metadata about the node itself (<code>_node-metadata-flow</code>) and metadata about the referent.</li>
</ul>
Contents (typical minimum)
<ul>
<li><code>rdfs:label</code> (human-readable name of the referent).</li>
<li><code>rdf:type</code> (classifying what kind of thing the referent is).</li>
<li>Optional provenance (creator, source, temporal scope).</li>
<li>Optional identifiers (sameAs links, external URIs).</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="example-snapshot-distribution">Example Snapshot Distribution<a aria-hidden="true" class="anchor-heading icon-link" href="#example-snapshot-distribution"></a></h2>
<pre class="language-trig"><code class="language-trig"># The referent of the node (the actual person)
&#x3C;djradon>
 rdf:type foaf:Person ;
 rdfs:label "dj radon" ;
 foaf:mbox &#x3C;mailto:djradon@example.org> ;
</code></pre>
<hr>
Children
<ol>
<li><a href="/sflo/notes/8hmkiyjtsey7z8y5oi5xdxx">dataset reference nodes</a></li>
</ol>
<hr>
Backlinks
<ul>
<li><a href="/sflo/notes/8hmkiyjtsey7z8y5oi5xdxx">dataset reference nodes</a></li>
</ul>

reference node

sflo


**Dereferenceable, versioned semantic meshes** will be the foundation for a new era of knowledge graphs.

[[now]] | [[todo]] | [[principle]] | [[dev.contributor.djradon.dev-log]]

## What Is Semantic Flow?

**Semantic Flow** is a framework for managing and publishing resource identifiers, knowledge graphs and other semantic data by leveraging GitHub, Gitlab, and other free static hosting services. It enables a **dereferenceable Semantic Web** where every HTTP IRI returns meaningful content.

[[concept.mesh-repo]] provide storage, [[concept.mesh]] provide resource management and publishing, and [[concept.semantic-site]] support data discovery and explainability.

## Benefits

- own your own self-describing data and data schemas
- complete version history when you want it
- reliable persistence
- truly FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable)

## Features

- seamlessly integrate other data sources anywhere in your mesh
- generate and customize mini-sites or single-page applications for nodes in your mesh
- see [[feature]] for a list of planned features
