To embed or combine

<chair>
The status of the discussion regarding Jos' RDF compatibility section appears to 
be mired in whether the normative semantics of RDF in RIF should be specified in 
the model theory through a "combination" of RIF and RDF semantics, or through an 
"embedding" of RDF semantics in RIF (as rules).  The two approaches have been 
shown by Jos to be equivalent.

At the moment I have not seen any technical arguments supporting one approach or 
the other.  Michael prefers the "embedding" on the basis that:

(1) the "combination" is more complicated than the "embedding" and thus more 
difficult to understand.

(2) it is not our job viz. our charter to specify a model theoretic approach to 
the RDF/RIF combination

Jos seems to prefer the "combination" and argues re: (1) that:

(3) it is no more difficult to understand the "combination" than the RIF model 
theory.

As chair, my own read of the charter does not provide any particular help on 
(2), I'm not quite sure what Michael is referring to there.  It is certainly our 
job to specify how RIF and RDF should be used together, and as chair I interpret 
this as meaning we should have a normative standard for that.

Thus, as suggested by Michael, it seems to me we are at a difference in 
preference only, and I see no alternative other than to call a vote.  It seems 
to me the vote is about which approaches to make *normative*:

1) The model-theoretic "combination" of RIF and RDF is normative
2) The "embedding" of RDF semantics as RIF rules is normative
3) Both the "combination" and "embedding" are normative (What would that mean?)
</chair>

-Chris


-- 
Dr. Christopher A. Welty                    IBM Watson Research Center
+1.914.784.7055                             19 Skyline Dr.
cawelty@gmail.com                           Hawthorne, NY 10532
http://www.research.ibm.com/people/w/welty

Received on Monday, 10 September 2007 00:01:00 UTC