- From: Sandro Hawke <sandro@w3.org>
- Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 11:30:34 -0500
- To: Jon Hanna <jon@hackcraft.net>
- Cc: "www-rdf-interest@w3.org" <www-rdf-interest@w3.org>
> I'm still not sure who I foaf:know! [ Is there a foaf-designers list? Hmmm. I guess the meta-point is applicable to all of RDF anyway. ] Every day or so I get asked by Orkut whether so-and-so is my "friend". It's very challenging. Then it asks me if I'm that persons "fan", and how "sexy", "trustworthy", and "cool" I want to say they are. Ouch. I usually trying to apply, "Signal is any difference that makes a difference" [Bateson79] in ontology design, paying attention to measurable effects on behavior. That is: how will people and agents act differently if they know one triple vs another? How would someone or something act differently if they knew I foaf:know danbri? Like you, I don't have much clue. I can think of a few approaches which might help: 1. Stick to observable facts, preferably with links to documentation (so others can make at least second-hand observations). Co-workers, spouses, roommates, classmates, [cellmates :-) ], etc. Nothing emotional here; just the externally-visible and hopefully documented facts of the relationship. DanBri and I spoke to each other once at a party, which is factual, but not fully documentable. There is bi-directional 1-1 e-mail traffic between us, going back to such-and-such a date. We've attended many of the same meetings (where we'd both be listed among the attendees). Etc.... 2. Express feelings in clearly emotional terms. I usually feel happy about DanBri walking into a room I'm in, in a social setting, and in a work setting. (Some people I'm happy to see in one context but not the other.) I just asked my 7-year-old for a test for closeness among people, and he suggested two: (1) whether you're excited to see them, and (2) whether you hug them. 3. State predications, offers, and/or committments. DanBri can safely interupt me nearly any time in a work context or a social one, but probably not a family one. I expect to see him F2F about 3 times a year. etc.... Obviously, a lot of this could be very private information (foaf:hugs sounds like a dangerous start), but that's a different question. There's the FOAF data I share only with my computer, and there's a small subset of that which I tell it to share with the world. And there's some data in between, which I share with my co-workers, etc. One might also share only with trusted match-making services, to provide the kind of anonymizing which Orkut does with sexy/trusty/cool. -- sandro
Received on Thursday, 19 February 2004 11:27:26 UTC