proposal for an xlink data model

hello.

i have just published a report describing a proposal for an xlink data 
model. it is available at

http://dret.net/netdret/docs/tikrep148.pdf

and proposes to define a data model for xlink based on the xml infoset. 
the report's abstract reads:

"This report describes a proposal for a data model for XLink. It defines 
the data model as contributions of XLink to the XML Infoset. The data 
model is meant as a clarification of the link model implicitly defined 
by XLink. It is also meant as the foundation for future work on XLink, 
for example a DOM module for XLink support, a CSS module for styling 
XLinks, or a protocol for accessing XLink linkbases."

my goal is to have this (or an improved ;-) version of the xlink infoset 
being specified as a w3c recommendation, so that other activities (such 
as dom and css) can build on top of it. possible developments are:

- an xlink dom3 module

- css3 selectors for linking information

- css3 properties for link formatting

- xsl-fo properties for link styling

- a protocol for linkbase access

in my opinion, all these things should be done to promote xlink and to 
help to make the xml-based web a hypermedia systems, where things can be 
easily linked. if there is enough support, then i hope that w3c will 
start to define an xlink infoset.

i am very curious to hear what people think of this idea. i know that 
xlink is not everybody's darling, and that xlink's success so far has 
been less than stellar, but i hope that we cann still change this by 
providing users with a better framework for working with xlink.

kind regards,

erik wilde  -  tel:+41-1-6325132  -  fax:+41-1-6321035
           mailto:net.dret@dret.net -  http://dret.net/
           computer engineering and networks laboratory
           swiss federal institute of technology  (eth)
           * try not. do, or do not. there is no try. *