[uf-discuss] semantic web and microformats

[Scott Reynen]

On Oct 10, 2007, at 9:43 AM, Duncan Cragg wrote:

> Now, you made a point of stating that it's only for developers and
> being merely syntax and not semantics.
>
> Why is that? If you define hCard in JSON and I get one, I'll know it's
> an hCard, surely?

You will, but only because you already know what "vcard" means.  That  
definition is not included in the JSON document anywhere.  So to make  
a tool do something useful with the JSON representation of hCard,  
you'd need to give it hCard-specific instructions for hCard.  And the  
same is true of RDF.  To say that RDF parsers can parse any RDF is  
like saying a six year old can read all words.  That's true on some  
level, but it's also useless on that level.  The important part is  
understanding.

> And would it be considered 'stepping beyond the charter' to make the
> documentation of JSON Microformats an official part of this
> 'movement'?  Not just for moving them around, but for fetching, with
> their own URIs and such.
>
> I know it's not following after existing practice, but is there an
> appetite for starting a parallel Microformats exercise doing this kind
> of thing? That is, taking the excellent work done, distilling data
> formats, and moving towards a 'hyperdata' proposal, with both XML and
> JSON forms, and links between them?

There is, on the -dev list.  I'd encourage you to continue this  
discussion there so that people who don't care about these topics  
need not be bothered by them.

Peace,
Scott