Re: URGENT: train wreck coming, action needed. (was: Fwd: URI-CG group chartered)

At 13:03 07/04/2003 -0500, pat hayes wrote:
>><aside>
>>I think there has long been a tension that URIs serve (at least two) 
>>different masters:  in the web architecture (wherein the concept 
>>originated), as a framework for universal identification, but within the 
>>IETF (who "own" the specification) I sense a broad view that URIs are 
>>some kind of glorified address.
>
>That sounds like a URL to me. BUt I agree, there seem to be divergent 
>ideas about what we are talking about, and different masters to serve.

I think the terminology here (URI,URL) is itself indicative of the 
different masters.

I may be on shaky ground here, but it seems to me that there is no 
fundamental difference between an  identifier and an address in 
that:  given enough infrastructure, any identifier can be used as an 
address, and any address can serve as an identifier (modulo scoping 
issues).  So, in this respect, one might view URLs as URIs for which the 
corresponding locating infrastructure happens to exist.

(BTW, I didn't mean "glorified address" to be dismissive, though it now 
reads that way to me.  Rather, it was the idea that a URL can encompass the 
structure of any existing addressing scheme.)

#g


-------------------
Graham Klyne
<GK@NineByNine.org>
PGP: 0FAA 69FF C083 000B A2E9  A131 01B9 1C7A DBCA CB5E