Stu writes:
>Aaron Swartz writes:
> I see DC as a foundation upon which much can be built. We should not
> discourage people to use DC, even when it goes beyond the simple uses that
> we intend it for. Instead, we should encourage such development, as it will
> strengthen the semantic meaning of documents.
>
>This view is very much in keeping with direction that I would like to see DC
>develop.
I think we need to be careful about what the "default value" model
implies and word our claims and exhortations accordingly. Using
rdf:value or rdfs:value in an INTNODE lets one in effect "park" an
arbitrary set of properties within the brackets of a DC element. The
implication is that these other arbitrary properties are somehow
related -- however loosely or mysteriously -- to the concept space (as
Carl puts it) surrounding an element.
However, this is a general data modeling construct that has nothing to
do with the DC-15 per se. That so many people want to use such a
construct says, in my opinion, more about the way people's minds work
than about the Dublin Core in particular. It implies that people
really to like to see elements as standing for loosely associated
concept spaces that go far beyond the dictionary definitions in
unexplored and uncontrolled ways, however questionable the results may
often be from a data-modeler's point of view.
It is one thing to promote a default value construct as a way to let
people hang arbitrary graphs from an INTNODE in a way that does not
compromise the intended use of the Dublin Core as a pidgin for resource
discovery. It is quite another to imply that the myriad and diverse
concept spaces which people associate with Dublin Core elements are
within the scope of the Dublin Core itself, somehow making "the Dublin
Core" into a foundation of richer resource description. I agree with
Carl and Diane that we should avoid saying this.
Rather, the default value construct looks more like one particular
means of expressing the loose and messy connections that people want to
make between things -- in ways which (we hope) at least partition in
sensible ways the elements that people use. Dublin Core elements can
be used in such a context, but the arbitrary graphs associated with its
elements will draw their elements from many other vocabularies as
well. Saying that "DC is the foundation..." amounts to suggesting that
document-like objects are the foundation of a whole world-view, which
is unnecessarily self-centered as a message for DCMI.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Thomas Baker [log in to unmask]
GMD Library
Schloss Birlinghoven +49-2241-14-2352
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