xml-dev - Re: RDF and Topic Maps was: RE: Services-based automation

[Jonathan Borden <jborden@mediaone.net>]

Sam Hunting wrote:

> [Jonathan Borden ]
>
> > The danger is that this degenerates into a classic language war. From
>
> Yes -- and in Extreme Markup Montreal, the clear message from the
> markup community to the RDF folks and the Topic Map (XTM) folks was to
> make peace rather than war. Since then, the cooperation betweem the two
> communities has been close.
>

    This is excellent. To be honest, I don't (yet :-) have a clear idea
about what Topic Maps do, or how they are different from, e.g. RDF etc. All
I know is that there are a whole bunch of really smart people working on it,
and they seem excited about it.

    Indeed I would have little idea about what RDF was as presented. The
only reason I think I might have a clue, is that RDF Schemas closely
resemble the 20 year old, and very well described concept of the "semantic
network" and involves perfectly good and still credible techniques of
directed graph manipulation and description. Indeed I personally use the
term "semantic web" to describe a semantic network which operates over the
web (i.e. with URIs). "Semantic network" and hence "semantic web" are terms
of art for me, and it is too too unfortunate that these terms have become
overloaded with a bunch of non-technical meanings, to the point where they
are becoming unusable in good company :-)

    On the other hand, the relationship between old fashioned semantic
networks, directed graph theory and RDF is not easily elucidated just by
reading the RDF specifications themselves, and I imagine that much of the
confusion regarding RDF is a result of the apparent introduction of a whole
bunch of new terms and concepts (when in this is very well known and
reasonably well accepted stuff).

    Is there a similar relationship between the "new" Topic Maps and
otherwise well known computer science concepts ... if these could be pointed
out (I'm feeling a bit too dense to figure this out myself), it would really
assist me in sorting out where all these specifications fit on the
technology map (heck I might even find a use for TMs :-))

Jonathan Borden
The Open Healthcare Group
http://www.openhealth.org