Re: Outstanding Issues - an RDF statement is an assertion

At 05:05 PM 2/12/02 +0000, Brian McBride wrote:
>>>rdfms-assertion: RDF is not just a data model; an RDF statement is an 
>>>assertion.
>>>
>>>The director has an architectural requirement that we say something 
>>>about this.  We need someone to draft some appropriate words.  Any volunteers?
>>
>>I think the statement should be kept simple.  I offered some words a 
>>while back:
>>
>>http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-rdfcore-wg/2001Nov/0560.html
>>
>>[[[
>>RDF is intended to convey assertions that are meaningful to the extent that
>>they may, in appropriate contexts, be used to express the terms of binding
>>agreements.
>>]]]
>
>That sounds like a volunteer.  Thanks Graham.  Could you identify the best 
>place to put this text, and bring a proposal to the WG to resolve the 
>issue please?

I've been thinking about this, and I'm not sure which document it belongs 
in.  Or, more to the point, I think we may be missing a document in our 
expected set of deliverables.

We have:

   RDF syntax
   RDF model theory
   RDF schema
   RDF test cases
   RDF primer

But, as far as I'm aware, there's no master document to pull them all together.

If there were, that's where I'd suggest putting the above words -- in a 
prominent section all on their own, headed something like "Using RDF to 
express firm agreements".

...

Let's suppose we agree that some kind of master document would be Good 
Thing.  What would it look like?  I think it would be a short document 
(maybe as little as 3-4 pages), something like this:

   RDF Master Specification

   1. Introduction
      What is RDF?
      Overview of RDF design goals
        [[[include above words about assertions here]]]

   2. Overview of RDF
      RDF graph model
      RDF vocabulary (use of URI-references and XML namespaces)

   3. Elements of RDF specification
      XML syntax
      schema
      formal semantics/model theory
      RDF test cases
      (each of these would contain a short description and a
       citation of the corresponding specification document.)

   4. References
      Normative - citing other RDF specification documents only?
      Others - background info

It might also be appropriate to move the glossary from the primer to an 
appendix of this document.

...

Another deliverable document may not be a Good Idea right now, but since 
you asked that's my first proposal.  Otherwise, I think we might (a) 
include the assertion words in all of the RDF specification documents (not 
nice), or (b) arbitrarily pick one of the specification documents as the 
"lead" document and put the assertion words in its introductory sections.

#g



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Graham Klyne                    Baltimore Technologies
Strategic Research              Content Security Group
<Graham.Klyne@Baltimore.com>    <http://www.mimesweeper.com>
                                 <http://www.baltimore.com>
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Received on Tuesday, 19 February 2002 16:06:33 UTC