RE: [httpRange-14] What do HTTP URIs Identify?

> > Semantic Web has to be able to tolerate the fact that you can't know
> > what a resource is, and thus different parties may not have a shared
> > perception of this, just like the Web needed 404 to work. -Tim
> 
> Some of us have been saying just this for a while now. You can't design
> ambiguity out of a system this size or simply wish it away with by
> waving axioms at people, however desirable they are.
> 

I wonder why this is so hard for people to understand.

Ambiguity is inevitable.  OK?  Is everyone happy now that we agree on this?

But I am puzzled how this has ANY bearing on the following "axiom":

"If two people independently use the same URI as an identifier, they should be able to have a reasonable degree of confidence that they are identifying the same resource.  

People should not be required to parse, dereference, or otherwise acquire any *additional* disambiguating information to provide this basic guarantee.  

Resource naming practices should be considered carefully, and people are strongly discouraged from naming resources in a manner that unnecessarily weakens this guarantee."

Received on Friday, 2 August 2002 14:46:48 UTC