Re: SemWeb in Guardian newspaper

Quoting Jeremy Carroll <jjc@hpl.hp.com>:
> 
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1150657,00.html
> 
> [[
> "It's 'out of control' by design," says Brickley.
> ]]
> 
> (it being foaf)
> 

I'm still not sure who I foaf:know!

Okay, the extremes are easy; I foaf:know my wife and kids, I don't foaf:know the
guy I can currently see walking past the window. However it's more interesting
(for the moment) to foaf:know people where I can find their FOAF files.

Do I foaf:know Dan Brickley? we've chatted on IRC a tiny bit, exchanged a couple
of emails (mainly him complaining about my quoting style). Do I foaf:know
everyone who regularly posts on this list? Really they seem like the people who
foaf:knowing can lead to the most wasted hours browsing through FOAF-a-naut
(currently a rather dull experience with my FOAF file, which is completely
foaf:ignorant).

Do I foaf:know Jade from Big Brother? Despite my best efforts I foaf:know a lot
more about her than I care to.

Do I foaf:know everyone I once foaf:knew? If so FOAF could be a disaster for
those who would prefer to avoid past lovers (this should neither be taken as an
admission that I wish to avoid past lovers, nor as an invitiation for them to
get in touch).

The problem perhaps is not so much what foaf:know entails, as what it implies.
When someone is murdered and we hear that they are "known to the police" we are
apparantly to understand that they are known to the police for a very
particular reason, to be foaf:known to the police (and have this tracked by an
automated agent) could be disasterous. Just to be on the safe side I have a
policy of never developing friendships with anyone involved in
law-enforcement.

-- 
Jon Hanna
<http://www.hackcraft.net/>
*Thought provoking quote goes here*

Received on Thursday, 19 February 2004 05:53:18 UTC