Re: vocabs, metadata set, datasets

On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 02:59:23PM -0800, Karen Coyle wrote:
> >I see the argument but still see a problem with the notion of
> >a record being "about" something.  Looking at a bibliographic
> >record through traditional bibliographic glasses, one does see
> >a set of data elements "about" a book.  Looking at that same
> >record through RDF glasses, however, one may see statements
> >"about" several different things -- the book, its author,
> >the publisher, etc.
> 
> As I said before, I don't see it this way. Even though RDF is much
> more flexible than the old record model, it has the concept of
> "subject" -- the subject of the statements, in my mind, defines the
> "about". 

Yes, agreed.

>          Library data contains things like author identification as
> an object, but the author is a subject only in the name authority
> record (or foaf Person description set). I really don't see
> statements about authors, publishers, etc. in a library catalog
> record for a book. All of the data there should be with the book as
> the subject.

I'm not sure I follow you...  Are you saying that all of the
information in a library record can always be expressed with
triples with the same subject?  Even, for example, if FRBR
distinctions are introduced?

> In other words, what Jeff said.

Jeff introduced the unimarc notion of "primary entity" which,
if I correctly infer, nicely captures the notion that a record
is focused on a particular resource without implying that all
of the information in that record may be expressed directly
as an attribute of the primary entity.

Tom

-- 
Tom Baker <tbaker@tbaker.de>

Received on Friday, 21 January 2011 03:15:54 UTC