Re: Identity of URIRefs / Resources

> Hi James,
> 
> I looked at < <http://taguri.org> http://taguri.org> and found your =
> example: tag:hawke.org,2001-06-05:Taiko
> 
> May I ask for an example RDF/XML code snippet showing how you would use =
> such tags?
> 
> From a data modelling point of view it's not a very good method, because =
> if the relationship between you and Taiko would no longer exist (e.g. =
> you sell him) then Taiko would need another tag. That is not very =
> helpful in case you want to gather the lifecycle information about =
> Taiko.

Why would Taiko need another tag if we sold him?  That string
("tag:hawke.org,2001-06-05:Taiko") would still be a URI for him, even
if my family no longer owned him (or the hawke.org domain).  In
principle, it will still be the URI for him in a thousand years, when
we are all dust.  In practice, it might or might not be *effective* in
referring to him now, next year, or in twenty years.

It's probably fairly effective now, since it's getting quite well
known -- on the other hand, some readers might think he's
hypothetical, not real [1], which kind of means they've got the
reference wrong.   People may start to say things about the thing they
imagine to be called "tag:hawke.org,2001-06-05:Taiko" instead of about
the dog himself.   That would be unfortunate, and might make it harder
to find pictures of him, etc.

With HTTP URIs, it's pretty easy to predict that the effectiveness of
reference will go hand-in-hand with the corresponing web server; as
long as dereference is giving useful and relevant information, the
given URI will be a good name [2].  And it's somewhat easier to keep
people on-track about what the URI means if their experience with the
web re-inforces it.  Tags are different; they float or sink on their
own, without any usable connection to whoever minted them, which is a
plus and a minus.

    -- sandro

[1] as in this 1995 photo, if that makes him seem more real
    http://people.w3.org/sandro/2005/taiko/sandro-and-taiko-121.html
[2] http://esw.w3.org/topic/GoodURIs

Received on Sunday, 5 June 2005 15:50:05 UTC