Re: A modest attempt to re-open ISSUE-20

On 3/14/13 2:50 PM, Pierre-Antoine Champin wrote:
>
> I guess I still prefer my alternative, as blank nodes are really that: 
> variables. They exist precisely to denote a resource whose URI we 
> don't know. I agree that it does not allow me to create hash-URI, 
> which is a shame.
Yes, but the "shame" costs are "deceptively high" and inherently 
exponential due to the following user burdens:

1. requiring domain name ownership
2. requiring DNS server access with associated privileges
3. requiring Web server access with associated privileges
4. requiring URI re-write rules for handling Linked Data Name->Address 
redirection -- when a URI denotes an entity that you can't associate 
with any Web or Internet content-type .

Hash based HTTP URIs and the use of "<>" in Turtle based graph 
expressions eradicate all the headaches above. We should never encourage 
solutions that discourage or adversely affect the ability to exploit 
hash based HTTP URIs. We always have to look to a Web where Linked Data 
resource management patterns are no different to what we do everyday on 
our local machines, when working with files. Overlooking this reality 
always gets us into trouble due to inevitable real-world implementation 
complexity and conceptual incomprehension.

Blank nodes can never be at the front door. Their utility is something 
that only manifests way after the RDF is properly understood. Look at 
what blank nodes did to FOAF prior to TimBL's request for everyone to 
get a Personal URI. Same thing re. Linked Data meme, in all cases, the 
fundamental goal is/was to leverage the "deceptively simple" 
architecture baked into the Web.

Links:

1. http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/node/71 -- Personal URIs and FOAF
2. http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html -- Linked Data meme.


-- 

Regards,

Kingsley Idehen	
Founder & CEO
OpenLink Software
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