Some Requirements

On behalf of RDF authors everywhere, I'd like to make a URI which is
usable in several, simultaneous ways: 

  r1.  As a not-overloaded name, essentially a logical constant term,
       as specified in RDF Semantics [1].   The URI will be my name
       for something; others may make other names for the thing or
       reuse my name for it. 

  r2.  As a web page address for human-readable content, working in
       currently-deployed browsers, giving users direct access to web
       content which I supply associated with the URI;

  r3.  As a web address for RDF/XML content, allowing simple systems
       to fetch a small to medium size knowledge base, which I supply,
       associated with the URI

  r4.  As the address of a query answering service, allowing more
       complex systems faster access to larger knowledge bases, which
       I also supply associated with the URI

I can think of a few other uses, but if you can give me these four, i
think I can figure out the rest.

Also, ideally:

   x1.  This would all work beyond the time over which I can
        reasonably expect to control any particular domain name or
        website;

   x2.  This would work even if a community of use arises which
        disagrees with me about what the URI names.  I made it
        up, I was the first to use it, no one should be able to
	make me into a liar by convincing people it meant something
        different. 

For example, one of my little projects is to implement an OWL
reasoner.  I call it Surnia, and I'd like to tell the world about it
using all appriate means.  Basically that means I need a website for
it (r2 above), but I also want to support RDF applications talking
about it (r1) and learning about it (r3 and r4).

More specificly, the OWL Test Results page [2] needs an r1-style URI
for Surnia so it can merge results from different sources, an r2-style
URI so users can click to get more information, and r3- or r4- style
URIs so it can show users data about it.  Actually, it doesn't *need*
any of these and it doesn't really have any of these right now,
because so far I haven't been able to make a URI like I want!  So
instead there are three different URIs in use (no r4 yet), which is
getting pretty clumsy.

About this point, settling for having three or four different URIs
starts to look okay, but if I do that, I'm certainly not going to use
an HTTP URI for r1 (it buys me nothing), ... so keep that in mind if
you urge settling.

As another example, I have a digital camera with which I've taken
3000+ pictures in the past two months (!).  I'd like to give each of
those pictures an r1 URI so I can record information about the
pictures.  These are mostly pictures of my kids, so I really need x1:
I want the pictures and metadata to co-exist happily in 50 years.
Also I want r2 URIs, so people can see the pictures!  And r3 and r4
URIs so my photo-browser applications can search for pictures and tell
me about them, along with displaying them.  If all four URIs could be
the same, it would sure make it easier to keep this huge pile sorted
out.

    -- sandro

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/2003/WD-rdf-mt-20030905/#urisandlit
[2] http://www.w3.org/2003/08/owl-systems/test-results-out

Received on Wednesday, 24 September 2003 08:13:13 UTC