Re: [httpRange-14] What is an Information Resource?

Sean B. Palmer wrote:
> * An information resource is an abstraction of a set of
> representations, strongly tied to HTTP.
> * The concept of an information resource therefore did not exist before the web.
> * The essential characteristics of an information resource can *only*
> be conveyed in HTTP messages.
>   
No.  Whether something is information resource or not has nothing to do 
with a particular network transportation protocol. 
> So now I can answer Xiaoshu's question, of whether the following
> things are information resources or not:
>
>    1. A book - Maybe.
>    2. A clock - No.
>    3. The clock on the wall of my bedroom - No.
>    4. A gene - No.
>    5. The sequence of a gene - No.
>    6. A software - No.
>    7. A service - Maybe.
>    8. A namespace - Yes.
>    9. An ontology - Yes.
>   10. A language - No.
>   11. A number - No.
>   12. A concept, such as Dublin Core's creator - No.
>   
Say your answer 2 why cannot a clock be information resource? If the URI 
of a clock (I forget what it is, there is a time server on the web), is 
it not information resource?  Try your three criteria and see if it 
fit.  But, honestly, I hope you  don't waste your time on that.  As you 
said that information resource is a novel class. If you put it on the 
web, it is an information resource.  But that definition is essentially 
useless because it says nothing about the nature of the actual resource.

Regard,

Xiaoshu

Received on Sunday, 16 December 2007 02:39:14 UTC