NO to XML-URI activity (was Re: namespace URI result?)

At 02:55 PM 8/23/00 -0500, Dan Connolly wrote:
>You'll have to judge for yourself whether the outcome
>is sufficiently comprehensive.
>
>If you find it insufficient, you might encourage
>us to persue...
>
>an XML-URI Activity Proposal for discussion
>Dan Connolly (Tue, Jul 11 2000) 
>http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/xml-uri/2000Jul/0025.html

After thinking it over for a few weeks, I think I need to oppose this
proposal, and publicly.

While I would very much like to see the work described [1] undertaken, I
don't consider the W3C a sufficiently neutral place in which to perform the
work.  

It has already been made painfully clear on this list that both the
Director of the W3C and certain W3C staff have very strong opinions
regarding URIs and their proper usage, which they hold to be correct -
effectively, the problem is already considered 'solved', and the difficulty
is with those who "just don't understand."

Given the role of the Director and Staff in W3C process, as well as the
enormous gulf between the URI and XML communities that has appeared
repeatedly on this mailing list, I believe this proposal faces extreme
difficulty in establishing credibility with the two communities.  

Keeping the activity public can help to some extent, but I've never seen a
public mailing list in which all relevant activity took place in public.
The Process section acknowledges these problems to some extent, but I don't
feel it addresses them strongly enough.

I would suggest that the W3C XML-URI Activity Proposal be dropped for now,
and that the URI community return to the IETF for a revision of RFC 2396
that makes underlying assumptions explicit, and which clarifies the
mechanisms for comparing various kinds of URIs in different contexts.  I
hope that the discussion on this list might have illustrated why such
comparison rules are important.

At that point, it may be useful to reopen the issues of URI usage in XML.
For now, I'd suggest maintaining the status quo.  I'd also suggest avoiding
the introduction of new uses of URIs in cases where the resource identified
may not actually be relevant to the transaction.

[1] - http://www.w3.org/2000/07/xup932


Simon St.Laurent
XML Elements of Style / XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed.
XHTML: Migrating Toward XML
http://www.simonstl.com - XML essays and books

Received on Friday, 25 August 2000 11:07:10 UTC