Re: Uniform access to descriptions

On Apr 9, 2008, at 10:25 AM, Pat Hayes wrote:

>> I've always had a bit of problem working through thinking of them,  
>> though. How about this example from AWWW
>>> the resource is a periodically updated report on the weather in  
>>> Oaxaca
>>>
>>
>> What are the rigid properties here, and how are they communicated?
>
> Well, for a report, I'd say that the rigid properties were its  
> being a report, which is something analogous to its mime type, and  
> the actual symbols (and maybe graphics) in the text of the report,  
> ie enough information about them to reconstitute their appearance  
> on a surface. Which is pretty much an html document with associated  
> jpegs and so forth.


This would be the properties of what I think of as a static report or  
web page. However they don't work for the example I asked for advice  
on in at least two ways: 1) The resource is a report that changes and  
2) It doesn't mention Oaxaca or weather, so if we used these as the  
sole criteria then the thing could equally be a soil acidity report  
from the most active volcano in the world.

-Alan