On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 20:20, Till Kinstler <kinstler_at_gbv.de> wrote:
> 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?
Well, I've written about this often in the past, and I'll repeat it
here again because I think it is so darn important ;
Real authority comes from trusted sources, and the one organisational
structure the world trusts the most is the Library. This is one of
those things that comes natural to the library world ; they're already
trusted to be neutral, that you're about truth and correctness, the
link to knowledge, and all of that. The world *still* loves you for
those things. Of course this image is faltering, but jump on global
identity management, and all is fixed, I guarantee it. :)
> "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).
And indeed one that you should not only continue, but breed, promote
and push much, much harder. This is where the true library values can
make a huge difference, can be shared to all, and establish something
unique not only to the world as such, but as a survival gambit for the
libraries.
> 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?
Good questions. Don't have the answers. I've been asking similar
questions since I bibliodrowned myself all those years ago. I'm still
spluttering, still recovering. :) But I just don't know. I *suspect*
that it might have something to do with the terrible 80's and early
90's where the library organisations changed the way they governed
themselves (more in line with public organisational models), but of
course being such a different kind of beast never quite fit in.
Libraries never really fit into any governmental plan as such, they're
a fiscal sinkhole which is hard to defend in terms of dollars and the
lack of short-term results. But another thing that *didn't* happen was
having a proper IT department (they are curiously late developments),
and when it finally came, it wasn't a part of the library as such, but
more like a support section on the side of things. (And I've talked
about the tacit discrimination - that invisible wall! - between
academic librarians and mere mortal IT staff before, but all of that
is a bit anecdotal and easily dismissed if you want to)
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").
I agree with you. (I forgot to comment on this part of Karens
otherwise good post) In the web world there's no such thing as
"records." That is one of the biggies the library world needs to give
up on. This is what RDF and Semantic Web technologies are trying to
do; go from records to a big mesh of recursive key-value property
pairs (tuples, triplets, etc.), and this clashes *tremendously* with
records and closed databases and silos. It is its inverse, and you
will *not* survive it unless this is re-evaluated.
> Often at
> some point the question of authority is touched, but rarely discussed.
I can only urge the library world to harness and weed and let the
authority you *already*have* thrive, and share that with the world.
The world will be a better place for it, everybody will throw
resources at you, and the library ideals can be secured, all in the
same go. How cool is that?
Regards,
Alex
--
Project Wrangler, SOA, Information Alchemist, UX, RESTafarian, Topic Maps
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Received on Tue Oct 27 2009 - 05:45:18 EDT