[sc34wg3] Subject Locators

[Jan Algermissen]

On Jun 13, 2005, at 9:34 PM, Murray Altheim wrote:

> Jan Algermissen wrote:
>
>> On Jun 13, 2005, at 8:52 PM, Lars Marius Garshol wrote:
>>
>>> * Murray Altheim
>>> |
>>> | Exactly -- we are using the URI as the means of addressing, but  
>>> the
>>> | link is what carries the semantics. We are as I just wrote
>>> | characterizing our links. What URIs mean or do or say or eat for
>>> | breakfast has *nothing* to do with this.
>>>
>>> Yep.
>>>
>> When you have a resource that has the intended semantics of some   
>> person 'Jim Smith' and NOT some kind of document about him;
>> what is the meaning of
>> <topic id="t1">
>>    <subjectIdentity>
>>      <resourceRef xlink:href="http://example.org/persons/Jim_Smith"/>
>>    </subjectIdentity>
>> </topic>
>> then?
>> The topic represents Jim Smith - right?
>>
>
> If you're using <resourceRef> the Topic is *never* flesh and blood.
> In the example you provide, it is the web page (resource) returned
> by a traversal of the link provided. The subject is the resource,
> hence "resourceRef". If you intend the Topic's subject to be something
> about Jim, you'd use <subjectIndicatorRef>, which means that the
> resource indicates the subject.

Hmm..this contradicts Lars who said the linking context does *not*  
affect
what the URI identifies.

If the intended semantics of a resource (REST sense!) are flesh and  
blood,
no <resourceRef> can ever change that.


> This is all spelled out in some
> detail within the XTM 1.0 Specification, so I'm not sure where the
> confusion lies, unless you're spellbound by REST semantics and have
> begun to confuse REST with Topic Maps.

Well, XTM uses URIs, so I'd say XTM *is* bound.

> As I mentioned, whatever REST
> is about it's nothing to do with Topic Maps.

True...as long as you do not do 'Topic Maps for the Web'. As I said  
before:
you cannot simply ignore the semantics of the stuff that XTM builds  
upon.


> If Topic Maps are
> eagles in a zoological taxonomy, REST is snails and slugs (which
> are important in their own right). But it's better to fly with the
> eagles than crawl with the slugs. [Sorry -- couldn't help myself.]
>
Jan

> Murray
>
> ......................................................................
> Murray Altheim                          http://www.altheim.com/murray/
> Strategic and Services Development
> The Open University Library
> The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK               .
>
>       The moment you come to trust chaos, you see God clearly.
>       Chaos is divine order, versus human order. Change is
>       divine order, versus human order. When the chaos becomes
>       safety to you, then you know you're seeing God clearly.
>                                               -- Caroline Myss
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________________________________________________________________________ 
____________________
Jan Algermissen, Consultant & Programmer                              
http://jalgermissen.com
Tugboat Consulting, 'Applying Web technology to enterprise IT'        
http://www.tugboat.de