Re: namespace as resource

> if a URI is used to reference a namespace, and i want to
> describe the namespace in RDF, i have to use that URI.
> but i also have to use that URI if i want describe the
> retrievable resource located at the URI (assuming it's of
> the URL persuasion).

A namespace is a namespace, not a file. If you want to refer to the file,
then you are referring to the representation of the resource (i.e., that
namespace) that is returned to the browser, not the resource itself. You
can't argue that a page representing a namespace *is* a namespace. So, if
you want to accurately model this so that it may be used in any context,
you should state the particulars, e.g. that:-

   [ a :ResourceRepresentation;
      :ofResource <http://blargh.org/>;
      :date "2001-08-17" ] .

Be careful not to confuse a resource with a representation of that
resource. Create a new (normally anonymous) resource out of that
representation if need be. The representations returned from URLs rarely
stay the same, so this has a practical as well as conceptual, use.

--
Kindest Regards,
Sean B. Palmer
@prefix : <http://webns.net/roughterms/> .
:Sean :hasHomepage <http://purl.org/net/sbp/> .

Received on Friday, 17 August 2001 16:29:25 UTC