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Given a piece of data, described by a name within a namespace, I would like to be able to determine the 'equivalent' data (and it's name) within another namespace. I don't mind 'finding' the data, but I need to be able to determine it's 'new' name within the new namespace. I think that, the way things are going (and have always been), it's necessary to have such a mechanism. From my (limited) understanding of RDF, it's not able to give me the 'hook' to do this. This, to my mind, is the equivalent of automated natural language translation, where XML is the alphabet, the Namespace is the Dictionary and DTD's or Schemata are the Grammar (and the data is the ...? - analogy breaks down here in my overloaded braincell!). We (humans) have always had a problem communicating across language boundaries - can we not define a mechanism such that we do not propagate this problem to XML? People will continue to define their own grammars for specific purposes - what about asking them to 'translate' their Dictionary into Esperanto so that others can use their ... whatever words would map to (meaning?). I'm all for encouraging diversity, but if people want to share something they need to be able to define it in such a way that it can be understood by others - without having to worry exactly _which_ others. We are in danger of splitting it all up into dialects understandable only to small groups - and that, it seems to me, is exactly why we went for XML in the first place! tim > -----Original Message----- > From: David Megginson [mailto:david@m...] > Sent: 03 December 1999 15:08 > To: 'xml-dev@i...' > Subject: Re: RDF, again > > > Vane Lashua <vlashua@R...> writes: > > > The difficulty with the definitions below, for instance, is > that "name" is a > > collection of characters whose context is not clear without > a reference. > > Namespaces, it seems to me, are absolutely necessary, but > they tend to > > encourage diversity where convergence would be a more > enlightened tendency. > > Namespaces encourage innovation. Innovation is the first stage in > development, and it needs to be followed by standardization where > demand warrants. > > In ordinary language, Namespaces let people invent stuff, but > it's our > responsibility to look at what's being invented and standardize the > things that are being done over and over again. It's a good idea to > let the market have a say first; if you skip the innovation stage and > try to standardize in advance, your standards will often miss > the mark. > > > All the best, > > > David > > -- > David Megginson david@m... > http://www.megginson.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/ and on > CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 > To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; > unsubscribe xml-dev > To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the > following message; > subscribe xml-dev-digest > List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...) > ********************************************************************* The information in this email is confidential and is intended solely for the addressee(s). Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorised. If you are not an intended recipient, you must not read, use or disseminate the information contained in the email. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of The Capital Markets Company. http://www.capitalmarketscompany.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/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; unsubscribe xml-dev To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; subscribe xml-dev-digest List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)
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