- From: Pat Hayes <phayes@ihmc.us>
- Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 18:40:16 -0700
- To: John Cowan <cowan@ccil.org>
- Cc: Leo Sauermann <leo.sauermann@dfki.de>, www-tag@w3.org
>Booth, David (HP Software - Boston) scripsit: > >> 3. There is a third good solution, which involves framing the problem >> differently. It is what I called the "shadow ontology" approach: >> http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-swbp-wg/2006Jan/0171.html >> >> This approach involves designing your ontology to *indirectly* refer >> to something that is not a web document, by use of a URI for a web >> document that describes that thing. > >This is what in the Topic Maps world is called a subject indicator: >a document that is about the actual resource. My problem is saying what exactly "about" means here. Informally the idea is clear, but it is very tricky to make this precise. > For example, >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare is a subject indicator for >Shakespeare. But it also mentions Stratford-on-Avon, Mary Arden, and many other things. Why is it not just as much 'about' them? > The Topic Maps glossary defines a subject indicator as >"a[n information] resource that is intended by the topic map author to >provide a positive, unambiguous indication of the identity of a subject." And what does THAT mean? This notion of a thing's "identity" seems to be very freely used in W3C circles, but I have no idea what it is supposed to mean. What kind of things have an "identity"? Does a grain of sand on a beach have an identity? It is certainly identical to itself: is that enough? Apparently Shakespeare has an identity, but I wouldn't recognize him if I were to meet him in the street. If someone were to tell me something about Shakespeare I would indeed feel that I knew who the fact was 'about', but is this anything more than just familiarity with the name? I would feel the same if someone were to use the name, say, "Rauschenberg", but about all I know about Robert Rauschenberg is that he is, or was, a notable American contemporary artist. Is this enough to give him an "identity"? How much information about a thing is enough to establish an identity for that thing? Pat -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- IHMC (850)434 8903 or (650)494 3973 home 40 South Alcaniz St. (850)202 4416 office Pensacola (850)202 4440 fax FL 32502 (850)291 0667 cell phayesAT-SIGNihmc.us http://www.ihmc.us/users/phayes
Received on Thursday, 31 May 2007 01:40:37 UTC