Copy of OASIS Symposium Proposal

["Drummond Reed" <drummond.reed@cordance.net>]

XRI and XDI TC Members:

I had the action item from the last XDI TC meeting to discuss with XRI TC
co-chair making the proposed OASIS Symposium presentation a joint
presentation of the XRI and XDI TCs. Gabe agreed, seeing that XRIs were "the
star of the show".

Following is the presentation abstract I submitted today (just under the
deadline).

=Drummond 

TITLE:
XRIs and XDI Dictionaries: A New Approach to XML Vocabulary Sharing

SHORT DESCRIPTION:
This presentation will explore a new approach from the OASIS XRI and XDI TCs
for cross-domain vocabulary sharing based on abstract identifiers and
interoperable dictionaries. This approach, which mirrors the development of
generic words in human languages, has special applicability in very large or
very dynamic networks where conventional XML schema standardization is
difficult if not impossible.

ABSTRACT:
In January 2003 the OASIS XRI (Extensible Resource Identifier) Technical
Committee began defining a URI-compatible identifier scheme and resolution
protocol for abstract identifiers. XRIs are location-, application-, and
transport-independent; support both reassignable and persistent identifiers
in one syntax; and have special syntax called "cross-references" that
permits the same logical identifier to be shared across multiple physical
domains. XRI 1.0 was published as a Committee Draft in January 2004; XRI
2.0, which incorporates changes in the underlying IETF URI and IRI
specifications, is due January 2005.

XRI cross-references offer a new solution to mapping data elements across
domains. This approach is being further pursued by the XDI (XRI Data
Interchange) TC, which is developing an XML schema for describing
XRI-identified resources. The XDI schema can be used to publish a set of
logical XRIs, called an XDI dictionary, which members of a data sharing
community can use to establish local mappings to XML schemas and physical
data stores. Data can then be shared and linked across any two communities
that share the same XDI dictionaries.

This "Dataweb" model has special applicability to the problem of vocabulary
sharing in very large or very dynamic networks, where conventional XML
schema standardization is difficult if not impossible. Communities can use
XDI dictionaries the same way people use paper dictionaries to establish the
generic nouns required for common understanding. XDI dictionaries can also
evolve dynamically using dictionary spiders that perform the time-consuming
task of monitoring and mapping a network of dictionaries and proposing
equivalences or transforms between them that can be validated by humans.

This presentation will demonstrate an open XDI dictionary sharing
implementation using XRI 2.0 and the draft XDI specifications; will explain
the key differences and complementary aspects between the XRI
cross-reference/XDI dictionary approach and RDF; and will propose additional
OASIS work on XML vocabulary sharing using this model.