Re: New draft TAG Finding on The Self-Describing Web

> Xiaoshu Wang scripsit:
>
>   
>> Is a picture of Shakespeare a "representation" or a "description" of 
>> him? IMHO, the essential difference between an information resource and 
>> a non-information resource is only the former can have a 
>> "representation" in the web.
>>     
>
> In the semantic web, what we talk about is resources, and resources
> have URIs, so if we are allowed to talk about Shakespeare, there must
> be a URI for him.  If http://www.heritage.org/images/shakespeare.jpg
> were declared by its owner to refer to Shakespeare, then the content
> retrieved from that URI would unquestionably be a representation of him.
>   
Of course, no one can prevent the owner from declaring 
"http://www.heritage.org/images/shakespeare.jpg" referring to 
Shakespeare.  But doing so would create confusions, which httpRange-14 
finding is specifically made to clarify. Use the same URI to talk about 
Shakespeare, the person, and Shakespeare the picture is not a good 
recommended practice.  Sure, the owner can ignore the recommendation and 
do it his own way, but doing so would make his resource less sharable 
and therefore less communicable. 

Xiaoshu

Received on Wednesday, 30 May 2007 19:46:34 UTC