Re: [SKOS] documentation properties and DC

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 04:08:41PM +0200, Antoine Isaac wrote:
> Hello (targetting especially these persons on the list who are really 
> proficient with Dublin Core ;-)
> 
> In the Primer we have an exemple that illustrates the use of elements 
> outside of SKOS to complement description of SKOS concepts:
> 
> >The source <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/source> property from 
> >Dublin Core [DC] <http://www.w3.org/TR/skos-primer/#DC> can for 
> >instance be used to point to a document from which a concept is derived:
> >ex:madagascarFishEagle dc:source "Internet bird collection, Apr. 6, 
> >2005"@en.
> 
> Discussing with a colleague he was a bit sceptical that dc:source was 
> appropriate for this usage. Could you confirm that the Primer can stay 
> with this example, or should we use something else for indicating the 
> documentary source used as a reference for a concept?

Antoine,

I have discussed this with some colleagues and we tend to
agree that using dc:source to point to a document from which a
concept is derived is a stretch.  Saying that a SKOS concept
derives from a book is a bit like saying that a word derives
from a dictionary.

The Definition of dc:source is: "A related resource from which
the described resource is derived" and the Comment reads:
"The described resource may be derived from the related
resource in whole or in part."  In practice, this has been
used to point to a "source" document from which a described
document has been derived -- for example, the print version
of a document from which a scanned version was produced.

In part because its meaning is difficult to pin down, the
use of dc:source has often been discouraged in favor of
properties that are more specific (or even more general,
like dc:relation).  I'm sure there are better properties to
use for this example.

Tom

-- 
Tom Baker - tbaker@tbaker.de - baker@sub.uni-goettingen.de

Received on Friday, 4 July 2008 20:42:26 UTC