"Develop library data standards..."

On closer reading, the first sentence seemed to compare apples
("Semantic Web technologies") with oranges ("data formats").  Therefore [1]:

    Semantic Web technologies conceptualize data in a way that fundamentally
    differs from the conceptualization underlying the data formats of the
    twentieth century.  Linked Data is primarily about meaning and meaningful
    relationships between things, while data formats conflate the meaning of
    data and the structured encoding of data into a single package.  The
    inseparability of meaning from encoding in formats results in less
    flexibility for obtaining value from an investment in data. Since the
    introduction of MARC formats in the 1960s, digital data in libraries has
    been managed predominantly in the form of "records" -- bounded sets of
    information stored in files of a precisely specified structure.  The
    Semantic Web and Linked Data, in contrast, structure data as graphs --
    constructs which, in principle, may be boundless.  The difference between
    these two approaches means that the process of translating library
    standards and datasets into Linked Data cannot be undertaken mechanically,
    but must be undertaken with knowledge of new principles of data design.

Note:
-- s/described in documents/stored in files/ - Peter's suggestion of "stored" 
   expresses the distinction more pointedly here...
-- "constructs which, in principle, may be boundless"
-- "but must be undertaken with knowledge of new principles..."

[1] http://www.w3.org/2005/Incubator/lld/wiki/index.php?title=Draft_recommendations_page_take2&diff=6117&oldid=6116

Received on Sunday, 4 September 2011 15:28:19 UTC