Re: On the messaging issues (was also the RDF/XML discussion on the call)

On 04/12/06, Kingsley Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com> wrote:
>
> Ivan Herman wrote:
> > Just one comment on the RDF/XML discussion on the last telco[1]. We all
> > know that RDF/XML has its problems and it was *really* a problem when
> > the separation between the model and the RDF/XML syntax was not made
> > clear in the messaging. However, I tend to agree with Lee that this is
> > not *the* major problems any more, the past years have changed this
> > image somehow.

[...]

> RDF/XML and RDF Model separation has to be a cornerstone of the outbound
> messaging. Yes, these matters have been resolved within W3C etc. But
> the goal of SWEO (as I understand it)  is to clear the muddy waters of
> perception across the target audiences: Web Users & Developers,
> Enterprise Users, Power-Users, and Developers, Database Technology Vendors.

Not sure if I agree with you both or disagree with you both...
Kingsley's audience splitting makes sense, but in that context take
the following groups:

1. logicians
2. database developers/users
3. "Web 2.0" developers/users

For 1. the top issue might be the expressivity of the language(s). For
2. the lack of update in SPARQL (aside from maybe HTTP PUT). For 3.
many people may be coming via doc-oriented XML or (worse still ;-)
RSS, and expectations are coloured by the background, so there the big
issue might well still be RDF/XML.

But still this is little more than guesswork, hopefully the survey(s)
will provide some solid information on which to build outreach
strategies.

> The Stack Cake [1] revamp request for instance, is more about a visual
> from which everyone can draw clarity (whether its contributing
> collateral to SWEO or other forms of evangelism).

The Cake is nice to have as a rough guide, but outside of the
already-converted I'm not convinced of its value. It can't help but be
an approximation - different parts have different significance to
difference groups (I think an orthogonal, but equally valid diagram
might have layers like HTTP and Services...). More practically, half
of the Cake is still on the drawing board. What does one say when a
newcomer asks how to do e.g. the crypto part?

I dunno, clearly SWEO needs to do some myth busting and faq answering,
but neither of these really answer the million-ruble
manager/developer/user question: "what would I gain?"

Cheers,
Danny.

-- 

http://dannyayers.com

Received on Monday, 4 December 2006 15:26:29 UTC