PersonsVersusTheirDescriptions

In RDF modelling, it pays to distinguish ThingsVersusTheirNames.

How can we say, "this document is about this person" in RDF/XML?

Here is one way that people are doing it, use FOAF terminology to link together descriptions of people and documents, with Dublin Core providing for description of the documents. In RDF modelling, it pays to distinguish ThingsVersusTheirNames. This follows a pattern we see in other domains, for example RestaurantsVersusTheirReviews. The example shown here talks about a person and two documents, using URIs to anchor the RDF description to widely known identifiers.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rdf:RDF
 xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
 xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
 xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/">
  <foaf:Document rdf:about="http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/04/09/quin.html"
   dc:title="The XML.com Interview: Liam Quin">
    <foaf:topic>
      <foaf:Person foaf:name="Liam Quin">
        <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://www.holoweb.net/~liam/"/>
        <foaf:workplaceHomepage rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/People/Quin/"/>
      </foaf:Person>
    </foaf:topic>
  </foaf:Document>
</rdf:RDF>

This corresponds approximately to the following English:

There exists a Document with URI of http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/04/09/quin.html that has a 
title "The XML.com Interview: Liam Quin". It has as a topic a Person. The Person has a name "Liam Quin"
a homepage with URI http://www.holoweb.net/~liam/ and a workplaceHomepage with URI http://www.w3.org/People/Quin/.

Are there other ways people are doing this? More examples and discussion would be great...

What about Topic Maps?

Massimo and Janne's old Metalog work is relevant re the English translation. (LinkMe)

notes and todos:

• is foaf:workplaceHomepage capitalised correctly?
• let's add a bit more DC detail on the documents