Re: Terminology when talking about Linked Data

On Feb 17, 2010, at 11:36 AM, Kingsley Idehen wrote:

> Pat Hayes wrote:
>>
>> On Feb 17, 2010, at 6:37 AM, Dan Brickley wrote:
>>
>>> ... . RDF was originally
>>> standardised as a metadata system, a mechanism for finding stuff ...
>>> whether that stuff was photos, videos, HTML pages, excel  
>>> spreadsheets,
>>> SQL databases, 3d models. ...
>>
>> Really? That was not the impression I got when I first got involved  
>> with it. In fact, I asked explicitly for clarification, at the  
>> first F2F in Sebastopol: is RDF intended to be metadata for Web  
>> 'objects', or is it supposed to be a notation for describing  
>> **things in general**? And the resounding chorus from the WG was  
>> the latter, most definitely not the former. (Which is also what  
>> Guha told me right after the very first RDF speclet was first  
>> released.)
> Yes, and I think you've inadvertently unveiled a subtle distinctin  
> between Linked Data and the earlier Semantic Web Project goals.
>
> At the heart of HTTP based Linked Data lies the use of the generic  
> HTTP URIs duality ( Identity/Access ) to actually deliver metadata  
> for Data Objects on an HTTP network.

Fine, I understand. But then you can't "link" to a non-Web object.   
But I was chiefly commenting on DanB's historical recollections.

>> And that is why I designed the semantics based on a logical model  
>> theory rather than a computational annotation system. If RDF was  
>> supposed to be primarily a mechanism for finding stuff, then we  
>> designed it wrong.
> I think you kinda attested to some of that in your blogic  
> presentation :-)

Ah no, what I was talking about there were just plain bugs and bad  
design decisions. But this is a more fundamental split, between RDF as  
a description format and RDF as a purely metadata tool intended to aid  
Web searching. Maybe these are compatible, but AFAIK the original,  
intended, design goal for RDF was the former.

Pat

>
> Kingsley
>>
>> Pat
>>
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>
>
> -- 
>
> Regards,
>
> Kingsley Idehen	      President & CEO OpenLink Software     Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
> Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
> Twitter/Identi.ca: kidehen
>
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>

------------------------------------------------------------
IHMC                                     (850)434 8903 or (650)494 3973
40 South Alcaniz St.           (850)202 4416   office
Pensacola                            (850)202 4440   fax
FL 32502                              (850)291 0667   mobile
phayesAT-SIGNihmc.us       http://www.ihmc.us/users/phayes

Received on Wednesday, 17 February 2010 19:08:34 UTC