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   Re: [xml-dev] Semantic Web for the Masses, by the Masses

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On Wed, Jan 11, 2006 at 11:08:24AM -0500, Costello, Roger L. wrote:
>      Example: A person (a common user) takes a JPG photo of a
>coastline, and then annotates it with this description:
> 
>                    "This is a picture of the New England coastline."

[snip]

>3.1 A description that is written by one common user may be edited by
>another common user.  Presumably the later common user has more
>knowledge and is thus able to correct or add to the description.
> 
>     Example. A second person with further information edits the above
>description:
> 
>                   "This is a picture of the New England coastline,
>near the Boston harbor."
> 
>3.2 Common users regulate themselves - they ensure that all
>descriptions of a Web document are consistent.

Which of the following are not consistent with the above descriptions?

"This is a picture of a force three gale."

"This is a picture of coastal geological formations, particularly
interesting because of the mix of exposed rock and sandy loam."

"This is a picture of relatively calm seas, with the tide coming in on the
shore near Boston."

"This is a picture illustrating the beauty of sunlight reflected from water
and illuminating the rocks of the New England coastline."

"This is a picture of where we dropped the lobster pots."

"This is a picture from the deck of the coastal tour ship 'Minnow,' at the
start of our three hour trip."

"This is a picture of cumulo-nimbus clouds interacting with the atmospheric
sheers produced at the shoreline in New England."

"This picture contains the DeCSS algorithm, steganographically encoded."

"This is a picture of the tide going out at sunset, near the Boston Harbor."

"This is a picture of the New England coastline, about a hundred miles from
the Portland harbor."

"This is a picture of the New England coastline, about two hundred miles
from Woodstock."

"This is a picture of a dolphin that we saw on our vacation.  He's
underwater, so you can't see him, really."

"This is where Uncle John drowned little Billy's kitten."

"This is a picture of what the Sahara might have looked like a long time
ago."

"Ceci n'est pas un photograph."

Which of the new entries are not consistent with other new entries?

Under what circumstances is consistency more important than accuracy?

Which of the descriptions are verifiable, without knowledge of who created
the description?

If a description isn't verifiable without knowledge of its creator, should
it be regulated out of existence if the creator is unknown?

If a description is verifiably accurate, but inconsistent with another
verifiably accurate description (sorry, I was trained as an historian, long
ago; this does happen), which should be regulated away?

Sorry.  There are several points, here:

1) as W.E. Perry points out with respect to schema governance of data,
semantic content of the web is also to some degree dependent upon the needs
of the beholder (or at least of the semanticist providing information).

2) consistency may not be the ideal measure of utility.

3) accuracy has not been mentioned in the above.

4) it is not clear who will judge accuracy or consistency, particularly
given point 1 above.

Amy!
-- 
Amelia A. Lewis                    amyzing {at} talsever.com
There's someone in my head, but it's not me.
                -- Pink Floyd




 

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