- From: Peter F. Patel-Schneider <pfps@research.bell-labs.com>
- Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 11:14:34 -0500
- To: hendler@cs.umd.edu
- Cc: www-webont-wg@w3.org
As it has come up in the Semantic Web Coordination Group, it might be worth spending a short while discussing point nine of XML in 10 points. As you might expect I have strong reservations about the claims therein concerning RDF. peter Please review item #9 in the XML in 10 points: [[ XML is the basis for RDF and the Semantic Web XML provides an unambiguous syntax for W3C's RDF, the language for expressing metadata (in fact, for knowledge in general). RDF is like hypertext elevated to the next level. Whereas hypertext links pieces of text and leaves their relation vague, RDF can link anything and everything and assigns names to the relations: 'A is the price of B' can be a relation between an object and a sum of money; 'A is heavier than B' can be the relation between two sumo wrestlers; 'A is the cause of B' can be the relation between a shower and your being wet. To communicate knowledge, whether in XML/RDF or in plain English, both people and machines need to agree on what words to use. A precisely defined set of words to describe a certain area of life (from 'shopping' to 'mathematical logic') is called an 'ontology.' RDF, ontologies, and the representation of meaning so that computers can help people do work are all topics of the Semantic Web Activity. ]] -- <A HREF="http://www.w3.org/XML/1999/XML-in-10-points">http://www.w3.org/XML/1999/XML-in-10-points</A>
Received on Thursday, 6 December 2001 11:14:37 UTC