First RDF - some basic questions

I realize I asking for some pretty basic "how-to" help, so if there is a
more appropriate place for this please refer me there. I am trying to learn
RDF as part of a project focused on court documents. I found that I was
creating small databases to use as a reference for things like the structure
of the court system and abbreviations. Since one of the project's goals is
to encourage the creation of third-party search/research tools, it didn't
seem to make seem to make sense to put that knowledge in a custom-created
database. Wouldn't it make more sense to create an RDF file, providing
a more portable and open way to access this knowledge.

In trying to learn how to express this info in RDF, I have been confused by
most of the tutorials I have found. Many of them seem focused on different
uses of RDF, are very minimal, or don't seem directed at beginners. So, I
was hoping that someone could take a quick look at the format I used and
give me some feedback.

Specifically, I was unsure about (1) using a resource attrib. to refer to
the court websites, (2) the proper use of rdf:about vs rdf:ID, (3) how to
ensure that a  similar RDFs on U.S. courts haven't already been created.

Thanks for any help.

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>

<rdf:RDF
     xmlns="http://www.opengavel.com/ont/USFederalDistrictCourt.rdf#"
     xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
     xmlns:daml="http://www.daml.ri.cmu.edu/ont/USRegionState.daml#">

<USFederalDistrictCourt rdf:ID="DMe">
  <FullName>U.S. District Court for the District of Maine</FullName>
  <Abbreviation>D.Me.</Abbreviation>
  <OGCode>030</OGCode>
  <Circuit rdf:resource="
http://www.opengavel.com/ont/USFederalCircuitCourt.rdf#1stcir" />
  <daml:USState rdf:resource="
http://www.daml.ri.cmu.edu/ont/USRegionState.daml#ME" />
  <Website rdf:resource="http://www.med.uscourts.gov/" />
</USFederalDistrictCourt>

   * * *

<USFederalDistrictCourt rdf:ID="DKan">
  <FullName>U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas</FullName>
  <Abbreviation>D. Kan.</Abbreviation>
  <OGCode>480</OGCode>
  <Circuit rdf:resource="
http://www.opengavel.com/ont/USFederalCircuitCourt.rdf#10thcir" />
  <daml:USState rdf:resource="
http://www.daml.ri.cmu.edu/ont/USRegionState.daml#KS" />
  <Website rdf:resource="http://www.ksd.uscourts.gov/" />
</USFederalDistrictCourt>

</rdf:RDF>