[uf-discuss] VIA or VIA SELF to indicate authoritative hCard[was:UID URL to indicate (relatively) more authoritativehCard(Was:Vote on this: rel="me self" to indicate anauthoritative hCard)]

[Scott Reynen]

On Feb 13, 2007, at 12:32 PM, Ryan King wrote:

>> And if the uid is not an url, then authors can't assert authority,  
>> correct?
>
> I'm not even considering authority for now. We need to just deal  
> with related hCards first.

I'm no longer clear on what you're proposing, Ryan.  I thought you  
were proposing UID+URL as an alternative to VIA, as a way to declare  
authority through identification rather than through origin.  But if  
you're not considering declaring authority at all, then how does this  
solve our original problem?

On Jan 23, 2007, at 12:22 PM, David Janes wrote:

> Wouldn't it be great if there was a well defined way of getting from
> _an_ instance of a hCard to the _best_ (or canonical) hCard for that
> person.

Merely indicating that two hCards are related doesn't tell us which  
one is best or most authoritative.

>> I see the one explicit relationship as simpler.  I'm not  
>> understanding what you think is
>> simpler about a general "relatedness".
>
> Because the explicit relationship isn't helpful. As someone writing  
> a consuming application, I don't care that an author thinks their  
> hCard is definitive for a given entity, just tell me which ones are  
> related and I'll figure out the right data.

I think the explicit relationship of authority is central to solving  
David's problem, a very common practical problem for hCard  
publishers.  Self-declared authority is not helpful, but one hCard  
declaring another as more authoritative is exactly what we need.   
There are multiple ways to declare that authority.  Origin is one  
basis of authority, and the VIA and SOURCE suggestions make use of  
this kind of authority.  Identification could be considered another  
basis of authority, and I earlier thought that's what you were trying  
to do with UID+URL, but if you just want to know that a bunch of  
hCards are related and figure out for yourself which one is best, I  
don't see how that solves David's problem.

Peace,
Scott