- From: Steven Pemberton <Steven.Pemberton@cwi.nl>
- Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:23:41 +0100
- To: "Mark Birbeck" <mark.birbeck@webbackplane.com>, "Ivan Herman" <ivan@w3.org>
- Cc: "Toby Inkster" <tai@g5n.co.uk>, "RDFa Developers" <public-rdf-in-xhtml-tf@w3.org>
On Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:51:57 +0100, Mark Birbeck <mark.birbeck@webbackplane.com> wrote: > Hi Ivan, > >> [...] >> >> However: if we work on a generic XML+RDFa, we essentially have two >> possibilities: >> >> 1. we define some sort of a generic mechanism whereby an XML application >> language (and maybe even the user!) can define his/her own set of >> keywords. This should be compatible with what we have in XHTML+RDFa and >> it is then up to the SVG group to decide whether they want to use it or >> not >> >> 2. we scrap the whole mechanism of keywords except for XHTML for >> backward compatibility reasons. >> >> I must admit I tempted to go for #2; the only reason we kept the keyword >> mechanism in RDFa was for historical reasons only, and I do not see why >> this mechanism would have any particular value for other XML dialects >> where history is not a factor... >> >> [...] > > I favour #1. :) In chatting with Ivan, I favour something like: take the applicable namespace append "/vocab#" use that as the missing prefix. Steven > > In my view, having short 'tokens' for URIs is the Holy Grail...if we > can get to this point, then RDFa will essentially become an amalgam of > Microformats' ease of use, HTML's ease of deployment, and RDF's > scaleable and decentralised nature. > > I discussed some of the advantages of 'tokenising the semantic web' in > a blog post, a while back. Forgive me for quoting myself, but the key > idea is in the middle of the document: > > > Whilst it's obviously true that having unqualified values like 'fn' > and 'url' make > it difficult to bring Microformats into the semantic web, we should be > careful > not to throw the baby out with the bathwater; what may be a weakness in > terms of scalability, is a strength when it comes to authoring > documents. > Authors need only use simple values in their documents, without having > to > get involved with XML namespaces or other forms of prefix mappings. > > Of course, at some point our dumb machines still need to know how to > map > the token, but it's a lot better to get the machines to do the work, > and allow > authors the freedom of using simple tokens. [1] > > > My feeling is that we're getting closer to being able to find a > solution to this second step of the problem. > > Regards, > > Mark > > [1] > <http://webbackplane.com/mark-birbeck/blog/2009/04/30/tokenising-the-semantic-web> > > -- > Mark Birbeck, webBackplane > > mark.birbeck@webBackplane.com > > http://webBackplane.com/mark-birbeck > > webBackplane is a trading name of Backplane Ltd. (company number > 05972288, registered office: 2nd Floor, 69/85 Tabernacle Street, > London, EC2A 4RR) >
Received on Monday, 30 November 2009 14:24:25 UTC