- From: Sandro Hawke <sandro@w3.org>
- Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 08:13:26 -0400
- To: public-sw-meaning@w3.org
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