canonical definition of RDF?

All --

Forgive a newb-ish question from a newly nominated member...

I'm struggling with authoritatively answering a conversational 
question -- "What *is* RDF?" -- without falling back to markup
and serialization.

I can't find a canonical definition that satisfies my understanding 
of the reality.

I've found several different descriptions, but none feel much like 
a definition beyond acronym expansion, and they disagree with each
other -- even the 3 TRs which were published simultaneously --

1. "RDF is a standard model for data interchange on the Web." 
   - <http://www.w3.org/RDF/>

2. "The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a framework for 
   representing information in the Web." 
   - <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-concepts-20040210/>

3. "The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a language for 
   representing information about resources in the World Wide Web."
   - <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-primer-20040210/>

4. "The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a general-purpose 
   language for representing information in the Web." 
   - <http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-schema-20040210/>

5. "The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a family of World 
   Wide Web Consortium (W3C) specifications originally designed 
   as a metadata data model. It has come to be used as a general 
   method for conceptual description or modeling of information 
   that is implemented in web resources, using a variety of syntax 
   formats." 
   - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Description_Framework>

Is there an existing authoritative answer (which maybe even the
most sacred historical electronic document might be updated to 
point to, even as it retains its operational definition in-line 
for historical context)?

Thanks for your help,

Ted





--
A: Yes.                      http://www.guckes.net/faq/attribution.html
| Q: Are you sure?
| | A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
| | | Q: Why is top posting frowned upon?

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Received on Thursday, 7 April 2011 14:22:31 UTC