Re: [namespaceDocument-8] RDF and RDDL

On 2002-04-09 18:30, "ext Garret Wilson" <garret@globalmentor.com> wrote:

>> Linking to the RDF will remedy all of the problems mentioned above, so
>> architecturally it is the strongest choice. Augmenting the current
>> metadata mechanisms is also another choice. But please - don't embed.
> 
> Sean,
> 
> I agree with that in general. Just as we've tried to get style information
> out of the document and into a separate stylesheet, so we should get
> metadata out of the document and into a separate document---which is the
> point of XPackage: to use metadata externally to link various resources
> (HTML, stylesheets, namespaces) together.
> 
> Really, then, RDDL is just a bunch of metadata telling how namespaces
> relate to stylesheets, DTDs, etc.---in effect, it's an XPackage document
> that uses XLink. What Tim and others are saying is that they want a browser
> to be able to see the metadata, which is why they propose XLink XHTML. This
> is where the response comes, "OK, then, just put your RDF, be it XPackage
> or whatever, in an XHTML document."

Thanks, Garret. That's exactly what I meant. ;-)

I'm usually a very vocal proponent of keeping metadata out of the resource,
but have been seeing the namespace document as a metadata resource that
is browser viewable.

> The *best* solution, of course, would be to 1) use RDF to encode RDDL-like
> information, and 2) get browsers to automatically display RDF, just like
> they display HTML. (Displaying RDF is *much* easier than rendering HTML,
> anyway.) The information would be encoded in a semantically robust manner,
> and everyone would be able to see it.

This sounds like a very attractive scenario.
 
> Perhaps putting RDF inside HTML is really just a hack that will allow us to
> wait until major browsers allow RDF viewing. I agree---in a perfect world,
> the metadata should go outside the document.

Definitely. Unless of course the document *is* the metadata, but then of
course, one man's metadata is another man's data...  ;-)
 
> Garret
> 
> P.S. Maybe IE and Netscape could just go ahead and support RDF browsing,
> and we would all be happy.

Hear hear.

Patrick

--
               
Patrick Stickler              Phone: +358 50 483 9453
Senior Research Scientist     Fax:   +358 7180 35409
Nokia Research Center         Email: patrick.stickler@nokia.com

Received on Wednesday, 10 April 2002 02:02:04 UTC