I have been watching the identifier debate in the LOD community with its revisionists, personal accounts and other takes on what the problem is, if there is a problem and how to solve the problem if there is one.
I have a slightly different question: What happens when we have a name/identifier?
Short of being present when someone points to or touches an object, themselves, you (if the TSA) and says a name or identifier, what happens?
Try this experiment. Take a sheet of paper and write: George W. Bush.
Now write 10 facts about George W. Bush.
Please circle which ones that you think must match to identify George W. Bush.
So, even though you knew the name George W. Bush, isn’t it fair to say that the circled facts are what you would use to identify George W. Bush?
Here’s is the fun part: Get a colleague or co-worker to do the same experiment. (Substitute Lady Gaga if your friends don’t know enough facts about George W. Bush.)
Now compare several sets of answers for the same person.
Working from the same name, you most likely listed different facts and different ones you would use to identify that subject.
Even though most of you would agree that some or all of the facts listed go with that person.
It sounds like even though we use identifiers/names, those just clue us in on facts, some of which we use to make the identification.
That’s the problem isn’t it?
A name or identifier can make us think of different facts (possibly identifying different subjects) and even if the same subject, we may use different facts to identify the subject.
Assuming we are at a set of facts (RDF graph, whatever) we need to know: What facts identify the subject?
And a subject may have different identifying properties, depending on the context of identification.
Questions:
- How to specify essential facts for identification as opposed to the extra ones?
- How to answer #1 for an RDF graph?
- How do you make others aware of your answer in #2?
Comments/suggestions?
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Wolff, Patrick Durusau. Patrick Durusau said: Names, Identifiers, LOD, and the Semantic Web http://bit.ly/f7dfZp […]
Pingback by Tweets that mention Names, Identifiers, LOD, and the Semantic Web « Another Word For It -- Topsy.com — November 28, 2010 @ 5:58 pm