Re: ACTION 2001-08-24#9 : issues with containers

Jan Grant wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 3 Sep 2001, Dan Connolly wrote:
> 
> > Again, suppose the graph had a Bag rather than an Alt:
> >
> >       <doc1> <dc:creator> _:a .
> >       _:a <rdf:type> <rdf:Bag> .
> >       _:a <rdf:_1> <jan> .
> >       _:a <rdf:_2> <dan> .
> 
> I don't consider the two to be interchangable. Why? Compare
> 
>         http://ioctl.org/rdf/ms/rdfms#108
> "The students in course 6.001 are Amy, Tim, John, Mary, and Sue."
> It seems here that the collection itself is truly considered the value
> of a property, whereas...
> 
>         http://ioctl.org/rdf/ms/rdfms#111  (and #112)
> "Here, any one of the items listed in the container value for
> DistributionSite is an acceptable value without regard to the other
> items."
> 
> In other words, the Alt-collection itself isn't really being considered
> the value of the property; the members of the Alt are being considered
> so instead.*
> 

Funny, I'd always read the bag example as `each and every member is a
student in course 6.001' - that is, the property is distributed over the
members of the set - not applied to the set. Therefore `alt' is a
different distribution: there certainly isn't a whole-set/members
difference between bag and alt - in my mind. Typically, the semantics of
the properties used are intended for the individual: the use of a
collection just simplifies the expression. Where does the set
interpretation come from?


> * although there are two kinds of alternative notion: the one in this
> example is "this is true for ever member of the Alt, just pick one" (so
> why isn't it just a bag?) as opposed to "this is true for at least one
> member of the alt" - which is where you need some MT support (I think).

-- 
Martyn Horner <martyn.horner@profium.com>
Profium, Les Espaces de Sophia,
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Received on Tuesday, 4 September 2001 02:56:21 UTC