PROV-ISSUE-628 (prov-anchor-inconsistency): Specification of anchor in HTML/RDF vs HTTP is inconsistent [Accessing and Querying Provenance]

PROV-ISSUE-628 (prov-anchor-inconsistency): Specification of anchor in HTML/RDF vs HTTP is inconsistent [Accessing and Querying Provenance]

http://www.w3.org/2011/prov/track/issues/628

Raised by: Graham Klyne
On product: Accessing and Querying Provenance

Raised by Stian in http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-prov-wg/2013Jan/0069.html, as part of comment number 24:

[[
I don't like the approach here with the anchors disconnected from the
hasProvenance - specially not as it is not consistent with the
approach of 3.1. I would have preferred the two approaches to be
equivalent. I now can't construct the Link headers of 3.1 based on the
HTML in 3.2 or the RDF in 3.3.  Although I don't particularly like it,
I might recommend changing 3.1 to also have a separate 'hasAnchor'
relation, to make it consistent.   (Also it would allow the off-spec
use of hasAnchor without provenance links).
]]

I don't particularly like it either.  But we're constrained by use of existing features.  We've been over this is previous iterations, and this is what we settled on - the inconsistency was deemed preferable to gratuitous reinvention.  In practice I think it will be less of an issue that may at first appear, as I don't see having multiple provenance links *and* anchors as being a common requirement.

We do indeed have a separate hasAnchor relation (its used in the RDF representation), but it's not recommended for use with HTTP.

I'm raising this as an issue so we can ensure there's group consensus, or at least acceptance, for this approach.

Received on Thursday, 21 February 2013 18:48:39 UTC