Re: Flickr uses namespaces. or 'machine tags'. or NOT.

Chris Lilley wrote:
> Hello all
> 
> Flickr have an article on what they call 'machine tags'. Or in other
> words, sort of using namespaces, while coining a new term to avoid the
> gag reflex from the HTMLorati. (But see below)
> 
> http://www.flickr.com/groups/api/discuss/72157594497877875/


> So in conclusion - they don't use namespaces at all. But they have a
> registry of colon-separated prefixes, which may or may not conflict
> with other peoples usage.


They don't use URI-disambiguated namespaces. They don't implement the 
XML Namespaces spec. But it is a namespace of sorts. Albeit a chaotic 
messy grassroots self-organizing one.

What I'd like to see is the ability to define prefixes per photo-stream, 
rather than per-photo. While you can add 
"xmlns:dc=”http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/” in as a tag, nobody wants 
to do that per photo...

(Well, I don't :)

It's definitely a healthy development though, even if scruffier than 
some semweb and xml folks would prefer...

Dan