Re: http URIs as names and scalability

On Sunday, Oct 13, 2002, at 01:13 Europe/London, Larry Masinter wrote:

> If someone doesn't have a web site they can guarantee
> to be around for more than a few months, can they not
> make up namespace names? If I want to buy a 'web hosting'
> site to use as my namespace name, how long a contract must
> I buy to be able to say that I've "put something at the
> URI of the namespace name". Six months? Ten years? Do
> I have to buy the contract for as long as the specification
> is valid?

I think this is more a social responsibility than a technical 
necessity. If you are designing an application that requires your own 
bespoke namespace, then it is your responsibility that the namespace is 
fully documented - that your users can always find out exactly what it 
is you are doing.

Given that the only reference you can rely on for the namespace is the 
URI, it follows that the documentation should go there. If you envisage 
your application being used for ten years, then its a matter of social 
nicety, and responsibility to your client, that the documentation is 
there for ten years also. Of course, you could have a namespace URI be 
a ISBN number, and just make people buy a book, but it would be easier 
to host a webpage somewhere and point a purl at it. This is what purls 
are for.

Received on Sunday, 13 October 2002 09:15:20 UTC