Re: SKOS Namespace document

Sean,

On Tue, May 05, 2009 at 06:58:26PM +0100, Sean Bechhofer wrote:
> Following today's resolution, a proposed draft for the "SKOS  
> Namespace Document" is here:
> 
> http://www.w3.org/2006/07/SWD/SKOS/reference/20090315/skos.html
> 
> Note that this does not redirect/content negotiate. It is simply  
> there to illustrate the proposed wording.

This looks good [1] and correctly reflects yesterday's
resolutions as I understand them.

However, it is not clear from the text what we mean by
"namespace document".  Checking back, I do not actually see the
notion of "namespace document" defined, or even mentioned, in
the Recipes [3], Cool URIs [4], or even last year's VM draft
[5].  The definition offered in Web Architecture emphasizes the
follow-your-nose principle of getting from the namespace URI to
information resources that contain useful information [2]:

    Another benefit of using URIs to build XML namespaces is
    that the namespace URI can be used to identify an
    information resource that contains useful information,
    machine-usable and/or human-usable, about terms in the
    namespace.  This type of information resource is called a
    namespace document.  When a namespace URI owner provides a
    namespace document, it is authoritative for the namespace.

The namespace document cited in [2] for OWL is the main OWL
Reference document http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/, which suggests
that, by analogy, http://www.w3.org/TR/skos-reference/ might be
considered the SKOS namespace document -- though this seems
inconsistent with the notion that the document should be
accessible via the "namespace URI" (in this case
http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl, which resolves to an RDF schema).

Following this very broad definition, SKOS Reference, the RDF
schema for SKOS, the "SKOS Namespace Document", and the SKOS OWL
DL Pruned Schema could all be seen as "namespace documents" for
SKOS.  In the lack of a clear definition or best-practice
guidance, I propose:

-- That we call this page [1] "SKOS Simple Knowledge
   Organization System Namespace Documentation" instead of "SKOS
   Namespace Document", as it is not the only namespace
   document.

-- The sentence:

        This document provides a brief description of the SKOS RDF Schema. 

   be expanded to read something like the following:

        This namespace document provides information about the SKOS
        vocabulary in a compact, ready-reference form and
        provides links to other namespace documents.  This document
        can be accessed directly, by its own URI [CITE], or 
        indirectly, by content negotiation from the SKOS namespace 
        URI [CITE].

        Following Architecture of the World Wide Web, Volume One
        [2], a "namespace document" is an "information resource
        that contains useful information, machine-usable and/or
        human-usable, about terms in the namespace".  

        The SKOS vocabulary is a conceptual resource identified
        by the namespace URI http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#.  
        The following namespace documents provide alternative
        representations of the SKOS vocabulary that differ with
        regard to detail and normative status:

        -- SKOS Reference (normative)
           http://www.w3.org/TR/skos-reference/
           [As in Sean's text, also include a link to the Primer.]

        -- SKOS RDF Schema (normative, i.e. "normative subset")
           http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/CR-skos-reference-20090317/skos.rdf
           [Plus Sean's text.]
           [Sentence "The RDF schema defines an OWL Full ontology..." moved
           from "SKOS Schema Overview" to here.]
     
        -- SKOS OWL DL Pruned Schema (informative)
           [Plus Sean's text.]
     
        -- SKOS Overview (informative)
           -- Replace Sean's text with: "This section informatively replicates a normative
              section of SKOS Reference [CITE], which should be cited in preference
              over this document."
           -- Section should be called "Overview", as in SKOS Reference, 
              instead of "SKOS Schema Overview", which implies that it is 
              an excerpt from the RDF schema.

-- Having just read Ed's posting [6] citing the dangers of
   replication [7], I am slightly uneasy about replicating the SKOS 
   Overview by hand from SKOS Reference, but not uneasy 
   enough to suggest we drop it.

-- This document should be referenced by SKOS Reference [8], citing
   its document URI.  The document should perhaps provide its own URI 
   in its own header (e.g., [9]).

Tom        

[1] http://www.w3.org/2006/07/SWD/SKOS/reference/20090315/skos.html
[2] http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-webarch-20041215/#namespace-document
[3] http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-vocab-pub/
[4] http://www.w3.org/TR/cooluris/
[5] http://www.w3.org/2006/07/SWD/Vocab/principles-20080316
[6] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-swd-wg/2009May/0024.html
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_repeat_yourself
[8] http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/CR-skos-reference-20090317/#references
[9] http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/CR-skos-reference-20090317/skos.html

-- 
Tom Baker <tbaker@tbaker.de>

Received on Wednesday, 6 May 2009 11:42:52 UTC