Re: DCAT Last Call issues: definition of Dataset -- examples

On 25 Mar 2013, at 16:03, "Makx Dekkers" <makx@makxdekkers.com> wrote:
> DCAT defines Dataset as "A collection of data, published or curated by a single source, and available for access or download in one or more formats".
>  
> This definition does not give a clear indication of characteristics that distinguish a Dataset from a more general rdfs:Resource. Would it be possible to at least provide some examples of existing resources that fall within this definition, and (even more importantly) some examples that do not?
>  
> In a conversation on the public mailing list (http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-gld-wg/2012Sep/0062.html), it was mentioned that “Any file stored on disk is a data set”.  This implies that any machine-readable information (including PDF files!) can be considered a dcat:Dataset. That doesn’t sound right to me.

We've had that discussion many times. The best definition of “dataset” I've heard is still: “A set of data.”

I don't see why a PDF file containing a big table shouldn't be considered a dataset. That's not the most useful form for re-use, of course.

You seem to be suggesting that datasets must have some minimum number of TimBL stars [1] in order to be described with DCAT. I don't think such a restriction helps anybody.

Best,
Richard

[1] http://5stardata.info

Received on Monday, 25 March 2013 17:51:59 UTC