ISSUE-12: Proposed new Goal: RIF is useable as the basis for a SW rule language [F2F3]

Proposed new Goal: RIF is useable as the basis for a SW rule language [F2F3]

State:
CLOSED
Product:
(no longer used) Design Constraints (Goals, Requirements)
Raised by:
Deborah Nichols
Opened on:
2006-08-17
Description:
Raised at: F2F3 Posted to Issues by Deborah Nichols
Champions of this design constraint are listed on the link below as including:
DaveReynolds, EvanWallace, JosDeBruijn, MichaelSintek, JosDeRoo, IgorMozetic,
LeoraMorgenstern, StellaMitchell, MinsuJang

Proposed: RIF should be usable as the basis for a Semantic Web rule language
Link:
http://www.w3.org/2005/rules/wg/wiki/RIF_should_be_usable_as_the_basis_for_a_se
mantic_web_rule_language) Full text of proposal copied below the discussion url

And see also questions and reservations expressed in F2F3 discussion at:
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-rif-
wg/2006Jun/att-0141/09-rif-minutes-5.html#item01


Full Statement
Draft:

It is an explicit goal of the WG that RIF should form a useful basis for a
core semantic web rule language (or small number of such).

Position in the DC structure
Level: [Goal] [PROPOSED]

Dependencies
list (by names) other DCs that depend on that one or on which it depends

Motivation
Various semantic web applications need/want rules (usages include includes
translation between ontologies, information integration, higher level KR).
There are a large number of in-use or proposed semantic web rule languages
(CWM, Euler, WRL, SWRL, SWSL, JenaRules etc). The trouble is there are many.
It would help the semantic web community if someone could bring order to this,
to identify one or a small number of \"standardised\" rule languages for doing
the common tasks. Note this is not exclusive, there will always be scope for
new languages with additional features.

The question is: how much will RIF help with this?

At the moment at least some of the semantic web community implicitly expect
RIF to define a semantic web rule language. We need to set appropriate
expectations.

Implications
We already require (well CSF) semantic web compatibility for RIF. However, RIF
permits a huge range of language semantics to be exchanged and arguably is
required to represent all of the above languages anyway. That does not, in
itself, provide any useful interoperability between them.

To achieve interoperability we need one, or some small number of, recommended
semantics that we believe is compatible with, and useful for, the semantic
web.

By saying \'basis for ...\' then we allow RIF to, for example, omit a human
usable syntax. We also allow the possibility that the recommended profile is
an informative rather than normative part of the spec. For example, it might
be a suggested RIF profile defined in the \"Recommendation on using this rule
interchange format in combination with OWL\" deliverable.

However, by including this goal we would set an expectation that the RIF
deliverables will be a significant step towards standardization of semantic
web rule languages.

Urgency
RIF without that is of limited use for me
----------------------
[This was item 4.a.2 in:
http://www.w3.org/2005/rules/wg/wiki/UCR/Document_issues.]
Related Actions Items:
No related actions
Related emails:
No related emails

Related notes:

At the 23 January 2007 telecon, the Working Group voted to drop Issue 12
without resolution. The telecon discussion and action are recorded in the
minutes, at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-rif-wg/2007Jan/att-
0112/23-01-07-rif-minutes.html (section \"UCR\").

Therefore, the Working Group does not adopt the Goal that RIF be useable as
the basis for a SW rule language.

30 Jan 2007, 00:00:00

This issue is closed without resolution.

30 Jan 2007, 00:00:00

At today\'s telecon we closed issue 12 - technically we dropped it without
solution. We agreed that we did not achieve consensus on having a goal for RIF
to standardize a SW rule language, and we also did not achieve consensus NOT
having this goal. So, we agreed not to make an explicit statement one way or
the other. [Chris Welty]
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-rif-wg/2007Jan/att-0112/23-01-07-
rif-minutes.html

30 Jan 2007, 00:00:00

Note link to minutes is broken by an extra space (Tracker application adds it).

30 Jan 2007, 00:00:00

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