RE: [xdi] Resource and Data

["Loren West" <loren.west@epok.net>]

Funny.  I read Gabe's request to mean the difference between <data>
and it's sibling <resource> elements.  Drummond read the request
as the difference between <data> and it's parent <resource>.

Now I'm more convinced than ever that we need a different name
for the <resource> elements that are siblings to <data> (or
at least group them under a <meta> tag).  They often times
get confused with the parent <resource> element.

=Loren

-----Original Message-----
From: Drummond Reed [mailto:drummond.reed@cordance.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 2:34 PM
To: 'Wachob, Gabe'; xdi@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: [xdi] Resource and Data


Gabe, it's a fine question. We've been working with the Resource/XRI/Data
element names for long enough now that no one has bothered to ask this basic
question.

I will give a very precise definition according to RFC2396bis and XRI 1.0.
An XDI "resource" is an entity that can be represented in an XDI document
and identified by an XRI. Period. It's abstract in the extreme.

XDI "data", by contrast, is any information that can be represented in an
XDI document that IS NOT identifiable by itself, but must be placed in the
context of one or more XRIs in order to become identifiable.

Example:

<data>43</data>

The value "43" in this XML element is XPath-addressable (in the scope of a
specific XML document) but not XRI-addressable.

<resource><xri>=Mary.Jones/(+age)</xri><data>43</data></resource>

Now this data has become identifiable - in both a local and global context -
with an XRI and thus now meets the RFC2396bis and XRI 1.0 definition of a
resource.

Of course, data does not have to be just a literal value. Complex data can
be a collection of resources. However, a collection of resources (each of
which itself is identifiable) needs to be put in the context of one or more
XRIs to be identifiable as a *collection*, so it still meets the definition
of data.

The next step beyond this simplest definition is to compare the XDI tuple
with the RDF tuple, and talk about Resource as Subject, XRI as Predicate,
and Data as Object. That was addressed in the powerpoint uploaded for the
last TC call
(http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/8454/How-XDI-Builds-On-RD
F-v1.ppt). 

With your knowledge of RDF, I would love your feedback on that view of
Resource and Data.

=Drummond 

-----Original Message-----
From: Wachob, Gabe [mailto:gwachob@visa.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 11:27 AM
To: drummond.reed@cordance.net; xdi@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: RE: [xdi] Groups - draft-xdi-metaschema-v5.xsd uploaded

Drummond-
	Can you explain in a sentence or two what the meaning of resource
vs. data is? This doesn't seem to be documented anywhere - you may have
discussed this on the phone calls, but I don't see explanation in the
minutes (not that I'd expect such content to be in minutes). 

	Thanks

	-Gabe
 
__________________________________________________ 
gwachob@visa.com
Chief Systems Architect
Technology Strategies and Standards
Visa International 
Phone: +1.650.432.3696   Fax: +1.650.554.6817


> -----Original Message-----
> From: drummond.reed@cordance.net [mailto:drummond.reed@cordance.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 11:39 PM
> To: xdi@lists.oasis-open.org
> Subject: [xdi] Groups - draft-xdi-metaschema-v5.xsd uploaded
> 
> 
> The document draft-xdi-metaschema-v5.xsd has been submitted 
> by Drummond Reed (drummond.reed@cordance.net) to the OASIS 
> XRI Data Interchange (XDI) TC document repository.
> 
> Document Description:
> v5 Proposed XDI Metaschema (only change is Comment element eliminated)
> 
> Download Document:  
> http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/xdi/download.php/
> 8761/draft-xdi-metaschema-v5.xsd
> 
> View Document Details:
> http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/xdi/document.php?
> document_id=8761
> 
> 
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