Alexander Johannesen schrieb:
> Seems some of my stuff on identity management has gone unanswered, so
> I've written a quick blog post to try to clarify why this is
> important, why this is how you should at least ponder identity in an
> RDF world, and on cataloging using nothing but URIs for both subject
> and resource identity ;
Thanks, good explanation how URIs actually work and where identity comes
from...
But one question remains open, and I think that is one point floating
around the discussion on this list without being formulated explicitly:
What about authority to define an identity? Where does authority come
from in a linked data world?
"Linking" library records with classic authority data provided by
"authoritive" organizations like national libraries is a traditional
concept in libraryland (though the identifiers used are no URIs). That's
exactly about defining identity (though in closed libraryland
environments). So I always wonder why libraries aren't forerunners in
adopting the concept of linked data, it should be well understood by
them. Why aren't they able to adapt that model on the "open" web?
Maybe it's because of the different ways authority is formed on the web?
Karen wrote:
> So, for example, in the library world, we will have an authority record for the UN and the URI that we use will be the URI for that authority record.
I think, that doesn't work on the web. I doubt anybody will respect the
ways authority data is created in libraryland (at least not "by
nature"). There is a whole business around creation, maintenance and use
of classic authority data, with well defined processes that establish
the authority of that data. I may be wrong, but those processes seem to
follow a traditional "top down" approach (one authority file kept at one
"authoritive" organization (which sometimes has authority "by law" like
national libraries), clear decision making structures...). I think,
authority on the web, is forming on other ways (maybe "bottom up"?):
Usually there are many sources that describe a concept on the web,
managed by organizations or people that have no traditionally well
defined authority. But we use them nevertheless. Or look at the ways
authority is forming in Wikipedia or social networks (Twitter, Facebook,
or even mailing lists :-)...) or in Open Source Software projects. And
authority is always questioned on the web (Altavista, once an authority
among search engines, has passed away long time ago, now GeoCities,
once an "authority" in web hosting (hmmm :-) is just closing down).
Maybe understanding those concepts of authority is essential, otherwise
we'll end up with presentations of our authority files in RDF, but no
one cares to use them?
Maybe I am completely wrong, but it's just a point that came to my mind
after following some discussions around linked data in libraries. Often
at some point the question of authority is touched, but rarely discussed.
Till
Received on Tue Oct 27 2009 - 05:20:49 EDT