Re: Dataset URIs and metadata.

Dear all,

Am 22.07.2011 um 10:59 schrieb Michael Hausenblas:

>> Apart from the error, somehow this is not what I expected. I assumed that the dataset URI is the URI of a dataset. It is the key to all other data. If you want something from a dataset, you only need to know this URI. So why is the dataset URI hard to find? Why isn't it used when references are made to DBpedia? Why isn't it the same as the base URI (http://dbpedia.org)?.
> 
> <http://lod-cloud.net/dbpedia> a void:Dataset;
>                               foaf:homepage <http://dbpedia.org/>;
> 
> Says everything, or?

No, I think Frans has a valid point here. What you propose is exactly the opposite of what he wants to have (and it is a valid claim btw):

"If you want something from the dataset, you only need to know this URI. So why is the dataset URI hard to find?"

What would be good would be a standardised way of identifying where the resources in a dataset are located. Where to start. Automatically. Without first looking into a huge, manually maintained turtle file that obviously can never know about all potential datasets.

What if there was a standard way of sending a request to the server root (using e.g. a special accept header) that says "tell me how I can access your data!" "tell me the services you offer and how exactly I can access them!", "tell me the kind of data you offer!". VoID provides a part of the answer, especially also with the SPARQL service descriptions. But (1) the information provided by VoID is too abstract to be used automatically, and (2) the problem is just moved one step, because now you need to know where the VoID file is located...

VoID makes this proposal of "well-known" URLs. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, VoID is the only service making use of this a bit obscure HTTP standard and it is not really implemented widely.

I think there is still work to be done here - or maybe I am uninformed ;-)

Cheers,

Sebastian
-- 
| Dr. Sebastian Schaffert          sebastian.schaffert@salzburgresearch.at
| Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft  http://www.salzburgresearch.at
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Received on Friday, 22 July 2011 15:40:30 UTC