Creating an RDF vocabulary for events

There is already a standard! - RFC 2445 - iCalendar...but

• it doesn't do what we want in terms of mixing people, places etc with events
• it is difficult to extend
• it is long and difficult to understand (events, especially repeating events are complex to model)
• it is difficult to discern the authors' intentions in some cases
• there's a divergence between specification and reality: overlapping, partial implementations

'Translating' a schema is difficult and slow: especially when you are trying to work out what a group meant when they were writing in their own special language, and translate it to your own special language.