Re: Last Call: SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System Reference; SKOS Primer updated [ISSUE-163]

Dear Doug,

Thank you very much for the nice words, and your comment in [1]:

"""
Note—not transitive vs. intransitive:
I'm not sure this says what is intended? There seem to be too many 
double negatives in sentence quoted below
"Not specifying skos:broader as transitive implies that no new 
skos:broader statement cannot be inferred between cats and animals by 
applying SKOS semantics. "
"""

It should be indeed:
[
Not specifying skos:broader as transitive implies that no new 
skos:broader statement can be inferred between cats and animals by 
applying SKOS semantics.
]
The Primer will be changed accordingly.
Thanks for spotting this! I hope you will find the new sentence more 
readable...

Best regards,

Antoine

[ISSUE-163] http://www.w3.org/2006/07/SWD/track/issues/163
[1] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-swd-wg/2008Oct/0062.html

> Congratulations on a fine piece of work!
>
> Some relatively minor comments
>
> --- On the SPEC
>
> 1. SKOS Collections
>
> While SKOS collections represents best practice in thesaurus 
> construction, many prominent existing thesauri (and related KOS) do 
> not follow the SKOS collections semantics. Instead, they model guide 
> terms, facet indicators etc as part of a hierarchy using standard 
> Broader/Narrower relationships. This creates a problem in converting 
> such existing KOS into SKOS. From discussions it appears other people 
> have come to a similar judgment in converting such cases to SKOS – 
> being reluctant to change the existing structure of a KOS designed by 
> a third party. The pragmatic decision is often to create a (nonSKOS) 
> property of a concept, to say essentially, ‘NOT_FOR_INDEXING’. This 
> allows a basic distinction to be made between a facet indicator (or 
> guide term) and a concept available for indexing.
>
> Can we consider if something like this could be introduced into SKOS 
> to facilitate conversion of many legacy KOS? The primer can always 
> encourage the full collections approach as best practice.
>
> Other
>
> I think the treatment of SKOS Broader and broaderTransitive is a good 
> flexible solution.
>
> --- Comments on the documentation:-
>
> REFERENCE
>
> 2. In section 1.3, as well as the cost/benefit argument for SKOS (in 
> KOS versus a formal ontology), I think it is also possible to make an 
> argument based on intended purpose. Some KOS (by design) do not 
> represent a 'logical' view of their domain and are only converted to a 
> formal logic representation in practical terms by changing their 
> intended purpose.
>
> Other
>
> Does the Reference deal with SKOS specialisation (I see the Primer does)?
>
> PRIMER
>
> 3. possible typo in 2.3.1 Note—not transitive vs. intransitive:
>
> I'm not sure this says what is intended? There seem to be too many 
> double negatives in sentence quoted below
>
> "Not specifying skos:broader as transitive implies that no new 
> skos:broader statement cannot be inferred between cats and animals by 
> applying SKOS semantics. "
>
> 4. Open world discussion and extension vs mapping in 3.1 and 3.2
>
> I’m a little concerned about the relative emphasis apparently given to 
> extension vs mapping. The primer might be read as suggesting that the 
> default way of connecting two KOS is via extension or direct linking, 
> which I think would be inappropriate. While there are good cases for 
> (third party) extending a KOS (eg by including local extensions), the 
> wording in the intro to section 3 is perhaps a little enthusiastic and 
> might run the risk of not sufficiently recognizing the potential 
> problems of linking two different KOS. LIS experience has recognised 
> that any major KOS represents a particular world view and that joining 
> two different KOS in an effective manner is not necessarily straight 
> forward. Hence the emphasis on distinct mapping relationships.
>
> Perhaps the editorial team could consider the appropriate order of the 
> linking and mapping sections, whether more discussion on the rationale 
> for mapping could be included, and whether some more guidance might be 
> given on when to link and when to map.
>
> The linking example in section 3.1 brings up a currently somewhat 
> problematic issue.
>
> >>
>
> A new concept scheme can re-use existing concepts using the 
> |skos:inScheme <http://www.w3.org/TR/skos-reference#inScheme>| 
> property. Consider the example below, where a reference concept scheme 
> for animals defines a concept for "cats":
>
> >>
>
> However there is nothing to prevent a new developer attaching their 
> own new concept to someone else's existing SKOS scheme and thus 
> changing the scheme (if the links are followed). It would be bad 
> practice but as far as I understand is possible. (A slight 
> modification of the example in 3.1 illustrates the point below.)
>
> I appreciate this is integral to the open world model and in the long 
> run, it might be addressed by mechanisms of assigning provenance to 
> RDF (sets of) statements, development of trusted vocabulary 
> registries, caution when importing a SKOS vocabulary, etc. In the near 
> future, I believe that the majority of applications will be 
> effectively closed world, in that they will create an in-house index 
> or database based on selected resources from the Web (including linked 
> data publications). Perhaps the SKOS primer might also address more 
> immediate concerns of how a vocabulary provider might make their 
> vocabulary available. Is it possible to say something on how KOS 
> developers might publish a vocabulary in SKOS, while asserting some 
> practical form of ownership?
>
> Apdx
>
> Eg A slight modification of the example in 3.1 if I understand it 
> correctly
> ============= alt example (undesirable?)
> ex1:referenceAnimalScheme rdf:type skos:ConceptScheme;
> dc:title "Reference list of animals"@en <mailto:>.
> ex1:cats rdf:type skos:Concept;
> skos:prefLabel "cats"@en <mailto:>;
> skos:inScheme ex1:referenceAnimalScheme.
>
> The creator of another concept scheme devoted to cat descriptions can 
> freely
> include the reference ex2:abyssinian concept in AN EXISTING scheme, 
> and then reference it as follows:
>
> ex2:catScheme rdf:type skos:ConceptScheme;
> dc:title "The Complete Cat Thesaurus"@en <mailto:>.
>
> ex1:cats skos:inScheme ex2:catScheme.
>
> ex2:abyssinian rdf:type skos:Concept;
> skos:prefLabel "Abyssinian Cats"@en <mailto:>;
> skos:broader ex1:cats;
> skos:inScheme ex1:referenceAnimalScheme.
>
> regards
>
>
> Doug
>
> Douglas Tudhope
>
> Professor, Faculty of Advanced Technology
>
> University of Glamorgan
>
> Pontypridd CF37 1DL
>
> Wales, UK
>
> Tel +44 (0) 1443-483609
>
> Fax +44 (0) 1443-482715
>
> dstudhope@glam.ac.uk
>
> http://hypermedia.research.glam.ac.uk/people/tudhope/
>
> Editor : The New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* public-esw-thes-request@w3.org on behalf of Alistair Miles
> *Sent:* Thu 04/09/2008 16:35
> *To:* public-esw-thes@w3.org
> *Subject:* Last Call: SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System 
> Reference; SKOS Primer updated
>
>
> The W3C Semantic Web Deployment Working Group is pleased to announce the
> publication of a Last Call Working Draft for the Simple Knowledge
> Organisation System Reference (SKOS):
>
> http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-skos-reference-20080829/
>
> Our Working Group has made its best effort to address all comments 
> received
> to date, and we seek confirmation that the comments have been addressed to
> the satisfaction of the community, allowing us to move forward to W3C
> Candidate Recommendation following the Last Call process.
>
> The Working Group solicits review and feedback on this draft 
> specification.
> In particular, the Working Group would be keen to hear comments regarding
> any features identified at risk, and from those implementing (among 
> others):
>
> * Editors: editors that either consume or produce SKOS;
>
> * Services: vocabulary services that provide access to vocabularies using
> SKOS;
>
> * Checkers: applications that check whether the constraints on SKOS
> vocabularies have been violated.
>
> Comments are requested by 3 October 2008, at which time the Working Group
> intends to close Last Call. All comments are welcome and should be sent to
> public-swd-wg@w3.org; please include the text "SKOS comment" in the 
> subject
> line. All messages received at this address are viewable in a public
> archive.
>
> The Working Group intends to advance the SKOS Reference to W3C
> Recommendation after further review and comment. This Last Call Working
> Draft signals the Working Group's belief that it has met its design
> objectives for SKOS and has resolved all open issues.
>
> The Working Group has also published an update of the companion SKOS 
> Primer:
>
> http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-skos-primer-20080829/
>
> The Working Group expects to revise this Primer while the SKOS 
> Reference is
> undergoing review and eventually publish the Primer as a Working Group 
> Note.
>
> Please see also:
>
> http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-skos-reference-20080829/#status
> http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/WD-skos-primer-20080829/#Status
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Alistair Miles
> Sean Bechhofer
>
> --
> Alistair Miles
> Senior Computing Officer
> Image Bioinformatics Research Group
> Department of Zoology
> The Tinbergen Building
> University of Oxford
> South Parks Road
> Oxford
> OX1 3PS
> United Kingdom
> Web: http://purl.org/net/aliman
> Email: alistair.miles@zoo.ox.ac.uk
> Tel: +44 (0)1865 281993
>
> --
> Sean Bechhofer
> School of Computer Science
> University of Manchester
> sean.bechhofer@manchester.ac.uk
> http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/people/bechhofer
>
>
>

Received on Tuesday, 21 October 2008 20:36:28 UTC