Re: Tim Berners-Lee on the Semantic Web

From: Dan Matei <Dan_at_nyob>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:40:39 +0300
To: NGC4LIB_at_LISTSERV.ND.EDU
-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Rochkind <rochkind_at_JHU.EDU>
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:49:09 -0400

> I believe in all Berne convention countries, a copyright doesn't exist 
> until text is set down in physical form, so it's not a legal object in 
> that way, i dont' think, until it exists _somewhere_. (Maybe only in 
> manuscript form, but that's still a manifestation, even if it's locked 
> in a bank vault somewhere and you don't have it.)

Of course, I gave an "edge case". But as my math teacher told us (> 40 years ago): "if you want to see it clear, push-
it to the limit" !

> 
> How can you catalog something that doesn't exist, anyway? 
> 

What about Aristotle's "On Laughter" ? :-)

> general practice, which to me only leads to confusion.  We don't 
> generally catalog abstractions, we catalog information resources (and in 
> my opinion sets of information resources like 'works', to the extent 
> that even today we sometimes attach "non preferred headings" (aka "lead 
> in terms") to uniform title records, essentially attaching an attribute 
> to the 'work', to the set of manifestations belonging to this work. But 
> the cases you'd create a uniform title record for something which has 
> _no_ manifestations anywhere are vanishingly few, if existing at all, 
> and I don't think that's a coincidence. )

We could agree on terminology: we do not "catalog" works (as we do not catalog concepts). But we produce records for a 
lot of abstractions... Let's say a record for a work is an authority record (an "upgrading" of the uniform title 
record).

Moreover an "edition" (i.e. manifestation) is not an abstraction ? Is it tangible ? Or only its n "incarnations" (i.e. 
its exemplars, i.e. its items are tangible ?

Dan

PS.

In FRBRoo/CRM parlance (see http://cidoc.ics.forth.gr/docs/frbr_oo/frbr_docs/FRBRoo_V1.0_draft__2009_may_.pdf, page 28 -
 29):

Work < Propositional object < Conceptual object < Legal Object < Thing < Persistent item < CRM Entity

Expression < Information object < Symbolic object < Conceptual object < Legal Object < Thing < Persistent item < CRM 
Entity

Manifestation < Legal Object < Thing < Persistent item < CRM Entity

Manifestation singleton < Physical man-made thing < Physical thing < Legal Object < Thing < Persistent item < CRM Entity

Item < Information carrier < Man-made object < Physical man-made thing < Physical thing < Legal Object < Thing < 
Persistent item < CRM Entity
Received on Wed Oct 21 2009 - 17:46:28 EDT