Re: Requirements for a possible "RDF 2.0"

Harry Halpin wrote:
> The Semantic Web, unlike most other Web standards, is basically a
> research project - and a far-sighted and correct one it seems! -
> disguised as a standardization project, and so its not surprising that
> after a number of years, some concrete lessons have been learned. I
> see no reason to aim them at the spec.

There seems to be a (maybe unintended) implication here that an activity may be 
either research or standardization, but not both.

I think there is undoubtedly a strong research element in the "Semantic Web 
project", but one that, mainly by virtue of its scale, cannot be conducted 
without the support of some standardization.  I also think there are activities 
using the Semantic Web standards that are not really research (though what at a 
technical level is engineering may still be part of something that is research 
at a social level).

My point is that I see the "SWeb project" as research, engineering *and* 
standardization.

And it is partly because of this that I would be wary of rushing to update the 
RDF standards too quickly - until we are more certain about the changes that 
might actually be useful.

#g

Received on Wednesday, 20 January 2010 10:16:11 UTC