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   Re: [xml-dev] URIs harmful

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> Uche Ogbuji scripsit:
> 
> > I think Topic Maps gets it wrong.  I don't think some global abstraction of a 
> > "public subject" is any more a trueness of the W3C than their Web page is.  
> > Therefore, TM introduces a whole level of indirection and complexity for no 
> > gain whatsoever, IMO.
> 
> Well, I grant that the W3C (or anybody else) could publish a URI that meant
> "the W3C".  However, no one has done so AFAIK.  Mere mortals who wish to
> refer to the W3C, therefore, can either publish such a URI themselves,
> or bootstrap from some existing URI associated with the W3C.  Topic Maps
> make it possible (not necessary) to do the latter.
> 
> I don't understand "I don't think ... is any more a trueness of the W3C ...".

Just trying to use poetic license to make a dry point.

I mean that some PSI is no more a true representation of the entity known as 
the W3C than the URI "http://www.w3.org";.  RDF says, if you want 
"http://www.w3.org"; to mean "The entity known as the W3C", then go on with 
your bad self.  Of course people doing so might run into some confusion with 
people who say that URI as refers only to the HTML that is returned from HTTP 
on that address.  Whether or not this confusion is warranted is debatable, and 
pretty much the driving force behind this quicksand thread.  But even if one 
admits this is legitimate confusion, RDF says it is the privilege of the 
publisher of the RDF to choose to confuse people if he wishes.  The person 
publishing the RDF could also choose to use a PSI, which might in some cases 
cause less confusion, but RDF doesn't meddle in the matter.  I find this lack 
of meddling in such subjective and undecidable affairs far more sane than TM's 
fragile rigor.


-- 
Uche Ogbuji                                    Fourthought, Inc.
http://uche.ogbuji.net    http://4Suite.org    http://fourthought.com
Track chair, XML/Web Services One Boston: http://www.xmlconference.com/
Basic XML and RDF techniques for knowledge management, Part 7 - 
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-think12.html
Keeping pace with James Clark - http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/libra
ry/x-jclark.html
Python and XML development using 4Suite, Part 3: 4RDF - 
http://www-105.ibm.com/developerworks/education.nsf/xml-onlinecourse-bytitle/8A
1EA5A2CF4621C386256BBB006F4CEC






 

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