[[/../../Recommendations|URI Note main page]]

Declaration delineation

This refers to the issue of separating strictly definitional assertions (which is true by definition because it is the defition) from mere descriptive information (over which there might be disagreement even among agents who agree about what the term means).

Do we require (SHOULD) or merely encourage delineation? Conversely, do we tolerate (MAY), discourage, or forbid the practice of mixing the two kinds of assertions?

For background see "URI Declaration Versus Use" by David Booth.

Status quo

Almost no one does this now.

In favor

Delineation promotes stability of denotation and of definition, since the non-definition RDF may be changed without threatening the definition.

It's also important so that users of the term know just what commitments are implied by the term. The smaller the commitment, the higher the rate of reuse.

Lack of delineation combines badly with racine sharing. Without delineation, the entire ontology, in principle, has to be taken as the definition of the term.

(anything else?)

Opposed

Disruptive. Huge education effort; few people understand the significance of this, and few people know how to write good definitions. Because there is no notation for inline RDF graphs, people would have to publish two documents for each term, one for the definition and one for the other stuff.