Re: RDF triple assertions live forever?

Sandro Hawke wrote:

> 
> In short, triples live forever in the same sense these words I'm writing
> (which will be archived in various places) live forever.
> 

I think the validUntil functionality that Phil is describing provides 
additional functionality over-and-above the usual web expiry mechanisms.

If I publish a graph, on the web, making some assertions, then I might 
reasonably expect that version of the document to be accesible 'for 
ever' - e.g. in a web archive service. At some point in the future, it 
becomes unreasonable to hold me to RDF assertions I have made in the 
past; this will often be later than an HTTP header expiry date. It may 
also be that the most obvious interpretation of my RDF document will 
have changed merely by the passage of time. e.g. I may say today that 
the BBC is a reliable and unbiased news source, and, heaven forbid, 
politically changes in the future may mean that I no longer hold this 
opinion. So having the option to state an explicit time out on the 
semantic content, as opposed to merely the representation, of an RDF 
document may be useful.

i.e. RDF triples are in the present tense - and hence there meaning 
depends on what we think of as the present.

Jeremy

Received on Friday, 28 March 2008 15:27:16 UTC