[topicmaps-comment] What Is The Type Of A Reified Topic?

["Thomas B. Passin" <tpassin@comcast.net>]

I don't know why this didn't occur to me earlier, but suddenly I started to
wonder.  I will pose the question in a specific context, but it obviously is
broader.

Suppose we have a class-subclass classification established.  To be
concrete, suppose we have

Class
    Service
        Web Service
            WSDL (the Class)

Now WSDL is a class, a subclass of Web Service, and an instance, presumably,
of Class.  This lets us classify instances as being of type (instanceOf)
WSDL.

Suppose we also want to talk about WSDL as a subject as well as having it be
a classification category.  That's easy, we create another topic, whose
subject could be WSDL (the Class).  But what type should this new, reifying
topic be?  We are not looking at it as a category but as a subject in its
own right.  Or maybe its subject should not be WSDL, the Class, after all.
Maybe we will establish a new PSI for WSDL, or indicate its subject by
referencing the URL of the WSDL Rec.  But then, what is the relationship
between WSDL (the Class), and this new topic, WSDL the Subject?

I don't think I've got good answers yet, and I'd appreciate your thoughts on
this.  It is going to come up frequently, I'm sure.

Cheers,

Tom P