Re: vocabs, metadata set, datasets

Hi Tom,

> -- I'd like for us to say more explicitly, up-front,
>     that we are referring to things by these three handles --

I added [[
Note that many standards, such as LCSH, might be seen as belonging to 
several of the categories below. However, we will refer in our report to 
each standard as belonging to just one of the categories, based on their 
typical usage.]]

does that address your concern?


> -- I'm wondering if Dataset is simply a superset of Metadata

How does this help in our definitions? Do you imply a particular change 
in the definition of dataset that would make things more easily 
understandable?

> -- I'm slightly bothered by the emphasis -- particularly (but not
>     only) in the definition of Dataset -- on the notion of a
>     "structured metadata record".  By this criterion, I'm
>     guessing that many of the nodes in the Linked Open Data
>     cloud would not qualify as Datasets simply because the
>     data, while possibly derived from records, does not, when
>     expressed as triples, consist explicitly of "records".

That's a feature of the semantic web, but not a feature of how most 
library information systems are organized, right?

Put differently: whom among our readership will get this problem (i'd 
guess not many?)

Moreover, the structured metadata record "works" in the explanation, 
while adding the triple perspective here would muddle things, unless you 
have a good suggestion which I can't see!

> -- I'm thinking that the Library Terminology page might
>     therefore include an entry on records, citing some of the

<snip>

that sounds like a useful idea.

Mark.

>     key definitions of "record" used in library science.  That
>     entry could be the place where the notion that a record is
>     "basically a collection of statements about ... one entity"
>     is called into question (by pointing out that in practice, records
>     typically include some description about several entities).
>     It could also provide a place to discuss the notion that
>     descriptive metadata, in a Linked Data context, is primarily
>     about description at the statement level, which is indeed
>     what lends it so well to linking and recombination.  That
>     entry could acknowledge the role of records in traditional
>     library science of providing a context for the provenance of
>     metadata and perhaps flag this as a crucial issue for Linked
>     Data (and RDF generally).
>
> Tom
>
> [1] http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/wiki/Library_terminology_informally_explained#Vocabularies.2C_Element_sets.2C_Datasets
> [2] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-lld/2010Dec/0023.html
>

Received on Monday, 17 January 2011 15:57:18 UTC