- From: Mike Dean <mdean@bbn.com>
- Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 10:24:38 -0500
- To: www-webont-wg@w3.org
The WWW has emerged as a major tool for supporting research in genealogy (family history). See [1] and [2] for simplified Semantic Web applications in this area. Serious genealogists are careful to track the source for each statement in their databases, e.g. page 19 of Spokane County birth records as recorded on microfilm 1234567 at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City family Bible in possession of Loretta Smith as of 15 January 1947 tombstone at Elk Run Cemetery, Elkton, VA It's important that WebOnt includes such facilities, which are generally referred to using terms such as tagging, reification, pedigree, or provenance. See [3] and [4] for a discussion of some of these issues. Other key requirements include: 1) the ability to deal with incomplete or conflicting information 2) the ability to handle objects without inherently unique names (individuals and places) 3) the ability to effectively merge data from multiple sources 4) the ability to address privacy concerns (accepted practice is not to make data on living or possibly living individuals public without their consent) 5) the ability to handle large quantities of information (the International Genealogical Index includes over 285 million birth, death, and marriage events, while the Ancestral File contains linked information on 35 million individuals [5]) Some readers may find analogues in other domains, such as (military) intelligence. Mike [1] http://www.daml.org/2001/01/gedcom/ [2] http://orl01.drc.com/daml/HW/Assignment3/LargeScaleContent-B.htm [3] http://www.daml.org/2001/04/reification/ [4] http://www.daml.org/listarchive/joint-committee/0274.html [5] http://www.familysearch.org
Received on Thursday, 13 December 2001 10:25:31 UTC