Re: Any reason for ontology reuse?

On Fri, 3 Dec 2010 18:15:08 -0200
Percy Enrique Rivera Salas <privera.salas@gmail.com> wrote:

> I would like to know, which are the specific reason(s),
> for reuse terms from well-known vocabularies in the process of Publish
> Linked Data on the Web?

Consider this question: I would like to know, which are the specific
reason(s) for reusing well-known words in the process of publishing
English text on the Web?

Answer: When you're writing something in English, you should avoid
inventing new words unless you're fairly sure that a word for the
concept you're trying to describe does not exist. This is because if
you invent a new word, you need to describe what it means for other
people to be able to understand you. And even when you do that, you've
increased the cognitive load for your readers.

URIs are the vocabulary of linked data, just like words are the
vocabulary of the English language. For analogous reasons, you should
avoid minting new URIs when an existing URI will do. If you mint a new
URI that means the same as an existing one, then not only do you have
to go to the effort of documenting its meaning, but consumers have to
perform extra work (such as subproperty/subclass inferencing) to
understand it.

-- 
Toby A Inkster
<mailto:mail@tobyinkster.co.uk>
<http://tobyinkster.co.uk>

Received on Saturday, 4 December 2010 08:30:01 UTC