Arch Doc: 18 Sep: abstract

>    http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/2003/webarch-20030918/

I know that some folks are annoyed that I keep going back to
the beginning, but I consider the abstract to be an abstraction
of the ideas presented in the rest of the document, and if I can't
agree with the abstraction then it seems unlikely that the details
will be useful either.

The only way I can rationalize the requirements of the
hypertext Web with those of the Semantic Web and Web Services,
without skinning the latter two, is to treat them as three systems
using a common information space called the Web.  As such, we have
to get our definitions right or the description becomes full of
contradictions, some of which were pointed out by Pat Hayes.

I also include my definition of "on the Web", which others may
want to edit, because there doesn't seem to be any point in
beating around the bush `til we get to the main text.

....Roy


--- webarch.html        Mon Sep 22 15:55:56 2003
+++ webarch-roy.html    Mon Sep 22 15:55:26 2003
@@ -76,17 +76,22 @@
  <h2 class="notoc"><a name="abstract" id="abstract">Abstract</a></h2>

  <p>
-The World Wide Web is an information system in which a network of
-resources are related through hypertext links. Web architecture
-defines the desired operational behavior of agents within this
-information system and for protocols that govern interactions between
-these agents. It is influenced by social requirements and software
-engineering principles, leading to design choices that constrain the
-behavior of the Web in order for the system to achieve desired
-properties: to be an efficient, scalable, shared information space
-that can continue to grow indefinitely across languages, cultures, and
-information media. This document is organized to reflect the three
-dimensions of Web architecture: identification, interaction, and
-representation.</p>
+The World Wide Web is a networked information space consisting
+of resources that are interconnected via hypertext links and
+descriptive metadata.  Web architecture encompasses both
+protocols that define the information space by way of
+identification and representation, and protocols that define the
+interaction of agents within systems using the information space
+to provide, retrieve, create, analyze, or reason about resources on 
the Web.
+A resource is considered to be "on the Web" if it can be independently
+referred to by at least one Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), even if
+access to that resource is restricted.  Web architecture is
+influenced by social requirements and software engineering principles,
+leading to design choices that constrain the behavior of systems
+using the Web in order to achieve desired properties: to be an
+efficient, scalable, shared information space that can continue
+to grow indefinitely across languages, cultures, and information media.
+This document is organized to reflect the three dimensions of Web
+architecture: identification, interaction, and representation.</p>
  </div>

Received on Monday, 22 September 2003 19:22:18 UTC