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Re: URIs harmful

• To: xml-dev@l...
• Subject: Re: URIs harmful
• From: John Cowan <jcowan@r...>
• Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 18:15:34 -0400 (EDT)
• In-reply-to: <4F4182C71C1FDD4BA0937A7EB7B8B4C105DCDC34@r...> from "Joshua Allen" at Jul 25, 2002 03:09:23 PM

Joshua Allen scripsit:

> But if I use something like
> http://www.w3.org ownerIs _:anon1
> _:anon1 qualityIs good
> I am talking about the W3C
> (the plain English for this is "The owner of http://www.w3.org has good
> quality")

This scheme does work; the difficulty is when we are trying to achieve
conspectus over a lot of bits of RDF.  How can I tell that your _:anon1
is to be identified with my _:anon437, both meaning the W3C?
Subject indicators can help solve this problem.

In the Real World, we may point to the play _Hamlet_ by pointing to a
particular book that contains an edition of _Hamlet_.  The book is not
the play, but can serve as a subject indicator for it.

> This is why it is so critical that people not be encouraged to say that
> http://www.w3.org IS the W3C.  Because first, you already have a way to
> indirectly identify the W3C, by saying "the owner of http://www.w3.org".

This works for the W3C, but gets trickier for Shakespeare.  What plausible
property other than the very vague "isAbout" connects Shakespeare to any
Web page?

> And if you start saying that http://www.w3.org IS the W3C, things that
> are perfectly reasonable and logical before such as "the owner of
> http://www.w3.org" become muddled and suspicious.

Just so.

-- 
Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@r...>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,  || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau,           || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.            -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)

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    • From: "Joshua Allen" <joshuaa@m...>

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