[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Semantic links
Hi, Yes again, about links :-)) But this time about semantic links. A link by itself is a kind of pointer. Can we make this pointer to provide more information, like for instance meta data about the pointed resource? I think that the answer is yes and that creating semantic links can lead to more useful apps than the actual RDF. Example of a semantic link: <topic type="extended" title="XML"> <resource type="locator" title="Everything you always wanted to know about XML but where afraid to ask about" href="http://www.Woody.com/XML.htm"> `... other locators .... <description>resources about XML</description> <CreatedBy>Woody</CreatedBy> <date>January 24 2000</date> <comment>put comments here...</comment> </resource> </topic> So, if we have the same mechanism as RDF has for descriptions but this time having all the properties enclosed in a "resource" element. Then, each locator that points to a resource (this is its intent) can also provide meta information about this resource. If the locator element is using the "rdf:type" attribute, then the link can be related to a class hierarchy. The class hierarchy could itself be part of a thesaurus and thus be included in an ontology. So, an engine aware of xlink types and rdf types could: a) know all the resources (one to many) that this link points and be able to perform the operation required when the user select one of the anchors. b) could provide to users semantic information by providing them meta data about the resource. c) Could relate the link to a certain ontology. For instance, if the link having the title "XML" is also having the rdf:type="Markup". Then if the rdf:schema is available (I still do not know how to relate the document to the rdf schema), the engine may discover that the "markup" class is a subclass of "text format" and then could propose to the user alternative links knowing that an instance of class "markup" is also an instance of a class "text format". Conclusion: I found particularly useful the xlink:type attribute that allows me to transform an element into a link (a kind of architectural form). The rdf:type also because the engine can make semantic deductions like finding that a "markup" entity is also a "text format" entity and thus go beyond the link by adding more intelligence to navigation. Finally, I discovered that if elements are included into "locators" as we would do for a rdf:description frame, we also add meta data to the anchors and thus allow the user to know what the resource is before navigating to it. So these where the latest news from Didier's lab ;-) Anyway, I structure this info in a more formal paper so that this recipe could also be used by others. Cheers Didier PH Martin ---------------------------------------------- Email: martind@n... Conferences: Web New York (http://www.mfweb.com) Book to come soon: XML Pro published by Wrox Press Products: http://www.netfolder.com xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ or CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 Unsubscribe by posting to majordom@i... the message unsubscribe xml-dev (or) unsubscribe xml-dev your-subscribed-email@your-subscribed-address Please note: New list subscriptions now closed in preparation for transfer to OASIS.
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