Using DBpedia resources as skos:Concepts?

Hi,

I want to get some broader feedback and opinion on this question.

There is a use case where an external dataset is modelled in SKOS, and  
we want to map it to DBpedia. Something like:

<http://mydataset/433256>
     a skos:Concept;
     owl:sameAs <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Michelle_Obama>;
     .

I've used owl:sameAs here. Now the problem is that my:433256 is a  
skos:Concept, while dbp:Michelle_Obama is a foaf:Person. I wonder  
wether that's a problem. I can't see any immediate contradiction  
arising from that, but I'm uncertain.

Another option would be to use skos:closeMatch or skos:exactMatch, but  
these are intended for use between skos:Concepts, while I'm trying to  
connect a skos:Concept to a foaf:Person.

The main question, I guess, is wether people in the DBpedia project  
would consider the assertion

     <http://dbpedia.org/resource/Michelle_Obama> a skos:Concept .

to be acceptable or erroneous, or wether SKOS folks tell me that  
skos:Concept is obviously disjoint from foaf:Person.

I know that this is a complex issue, so I'm not really looking for a  
"right" or "wrong" answer. I'm more interested in getting all the pros  
and cons and pitfalls and caveats on the table, so please, if you have  
any opinion on the issue, I want to hear it.

I'm cc'ing Pat Hayes, because he said he's interested in that kind of  
question.

All the best and thanks for your time,
Richard




-- 
Linked Data Technologist • Linked Data Research Centre
Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI), NUI Galway, Ireland
http://linkeddata.deri.ie/
skype:richard.cyganiak
tel:+353-91-49-5711

Received on Wednesday, 4 November 2009 00:57:31 UTC