Re: http://schema.org/Offer: a broader definition

Agreed, I'm sure that this is what the SchemaBibEx group desire (myself
included), and certainly seems in line with the intent and direction of
GoodRelations.

Cheers,
Niklas


On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 4:57 PM, Dan Scott <dan@coffeecode.net> wrote:

>
> http://www.heppnetz.de/ontologies/goodrelations/v1.html#conceptual_overview
> defines the "promise" (offer) entity as:
>
> """
> A promise (offer) to transfer some rights (ownership, temporary usage, a
> certain license, ...) on the object or to provide the service for a
> certain compensation (e.g. an amount of money), made by the agent and
> related to the object or service.
> """
>
> http://schema.org/Offer uses a more concise, but narrower, definition:
>
> """
> An offer to sell an item—for example, an offer to sell a product, the
> DVD of a movie, or tickets to an event.
> """
>
> The use of the word "sell" is where the definition gets too narrow, in
> my opinion, in that the definition of "sell" typically involves an
> exchange of money. I do recognize that the businessFunction property
> allows for a broader range of options via the BusinessFunction
> enumeration, such as LeaseOut or Rental, however I'm currently having
> trouble convincing some of my peers that Offer is the right type to use
> purely because of the use of the word "sell" in the core definition.
>
> Context: Organizations may wish to express Offers that are
> not purely sales-oriented. For example, an academic library offers
> services and loans resources to members of its academic community; a
> community centre may offer tickets to an event on a first-come,
> first-served basis; and free-cycling sites offer items for absolutely
> no compensation (well, perhaps with an implicit promise that you won't
> return the item - heh!)
>
> Therefore, I suggest schema.org adapt the definition to reflect the
> broader definition of the Good Relations "promise" as follows (while
> also expressing a broader range of business functions than "sell" in the
> examples):
>
> """
> An offer to transfer some rights to an item or to provide a service--for
> example, an offer to sell tickets to an event, to rent the DVD of a
> movie, to repair a motorcycle, or to loan a book.
> """
>
> I believe this maintains the plain English definition that was adopted
> for schema.org while expressing the broader sense of Offer that was
> intended by Good Relations, and I think it would help with the adoption
> of Offer for others who might stumble over the rather commercial
> orientation of the current definition.
>
>