Comments on: Resource, Resource! Wherefore art thou Resource? http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/resource-resource-wherefore-art-thou-resource musings of Roy T. Fielding Thu, 21 May 2009 18:54:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Robert Cerny http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/resource-resource-wherefore-art-thou-resource#comment-20 Robert Cerny Wed, 27 Feb 2008 19:10:10 +0000 http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/resource-resource-wherefore-art-thou-resource#comment-20 I think that the requirement is unnecessarily strong. Unambiguous identification is very difficult, impossible in some cases. All those subjects could not be talked about with such a strong requirement in place. <em>In my opinion</em> it would be sufficient to be able to state whether two resources identify the same subject. Such information could be provided by services. How the service learns whether two resources represent the same subject, is up to the service provider, but human control is unavoidable, although it might be supported by machines, e.g automatic reasoning for uncovering contradictions. Different service providers may provide different responses. I think that the requirement is unnecessarily strong. Unambiguous identification is very difficult, impossible in some cases. All those subjects could not be talked about with such a strong requirement in place. In my opinion it would be sufficient to be able to state whether two resources identify the same subject. Such information could be provided by services. How the service learns whether two resources represent the same subject, is up to the service provider, but human control is unavoidable, although it might be supported by machines, e.g automatic reasoning for uncovering contradictions. Different service providers may provide different responses.

]]> By: jeremy carroll http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/resource-resource-wherefore-art-thou-resource#comment-18 jeremy carroll Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:20:21 +0000 http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/resource-resource-wherefore-art-thou-resource#comment-18 I agree. Ambiguity occurs; design for it, not against it. I agree. Ambiguity occurs; design for it, not against it.

]]> By: Roy T. Fielding http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/resource-resource-wherefore-art-thou-resource#comment-16 Roy T. Fielding Mon, 25 Feb 2008 03:19:36 +0000 http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/resource-resource-wherefore-art-thou-resource#comment-16 I think a lot of people have an opinion on what the key requirements should be, but there doesn't seem to be much (if any) agreement, nor has there been adequate investigation of why these things should even be called <em>requirements</em> when, for the most part, they are only wishful thinking at best. If anything, the folks doing the most talking these days have talked themselves into the same corner where the AI systems failed -- the closed-world assumption. These requirements are the antithesis of what Tim included in his <a href="http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/RDFnot.html" rel="nofollow">Design Notes</a>: <blockquote cite="Tim Berners-Lee"> The Semantic Web is what we will get if we perform the same globalization process to Knowledge Representation that the Web initially did to Hypertext. We remove the centralized concepts of absolute truth, total knowledge, and total provability, and see what we can do with limited knowledge. </blockquote> I think a lot of people have an opinion on what the key requirements should be, but there doesn’t seem to be much (if any) agreement, nor has there been adequate investigation of why these things should even be called requirements when, for the most part, they are only wishful thinking at best.

If anything, the folks doing the most talking these days have talked themselves into the same corner where the AI systems failed — the closed-world assumption. These requirements are the antithesis of what Tim included in his Design Notes:

The Semantic Web is what we will get if we perform the same globalization process to Knowledge Representation that the Web initially did to Hypertext. We remove the centralized concepts of absolute truth, total knowledge, and total provability, and see what we can do with limited knowledge.

]]> By: Semergence » Blog Archive » This Post Is Ambiguous http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/resource-resource-wherefore-art-thou-resource#comment-15 Semergence » Blog Archive » This Post Is Ambiguous Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:52:39 +0000 http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/resource-resource-wherefore-art-thou-resource#comment-15 [...] When was the last time you had an unambiguous discussion? [...] [...] When was the last time you had an unambiguous discussion? [...]

]]> By: Ian Davis http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/resource-resource-wherefore-art-thou-resource#comment-14 Ian Davis Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:47:31 +0000 http://roy.gbiv.com/untangled/2008/resource-resource-wherefore-art-thou-resource#comment-14 I think it's a key requirement that the owner of the URI has the means to state what it identifies unambiguously. However, that doesn't mean that other people can't say things that make it ambiguous. Like you imply, that's just life. I think it’s a key requirement that the owner of the URI has the means to state what it identifies unambiguously.

However, that doesn’t mean that other people can’t say things that make it ambiguous. Like you imply, that’s just life.

]]>