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

>>I think the core of the concept "information resource" is that it's
>>a resource that we are willing to identify with its representations.
>>A facsimile of the First Folio, or even a faithful textual transcription,
>>just *is* the First Folio, as much so as any of the 40-odd surviving
>>printed copies; but nobody would think that a picture of Shakespeare
>>really *is* Shakespeare, although it's certainly a representation of him.
>>
>Is a picture of Shakespeare a "representation" or a "description" of him?

Its certainly not a description. I would say it is a representation: 
indeed, this usage was once the main meaning of the word 
'representation'.

>  IMHO, the essential difference between an information resource and 
>a non-information resource is only the former can have a 
>"representation" in the web.

BUt now one has to ask, in what sense of 'representation'? There is a 
(now rather large and well-established) usage in which a description 
is a kind of representation, and in particular a description in a 
formal language like OWL is a representation of the thing described. 
In this sense, having a representation on the Web does not 
distinguish anything from anything.

Pat Hayes

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
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 07:13:18 UTC