RE: [syndication] RSS Modularization Demonstration

[Rael Dornfest <rael@oreilly.com>]

Howdy,

On Mon, 26 Jun 2000, David Galbraith wrote:

> Just to put two feet in the plate.
> The reason why people are 'frightened of RDF' is really because it's simpler
> than it looks.
> People look at namespaces and think that they mean more than they do. I
> think there is a general problem with namespaces in this respect.
> Namespaces are just unique references, but because they can look like URL's
> it is a shock when these URL's point to nothing.

This is precisely why I liked the XHTML modularization example; "there is
a there there."  Although there isn't any talk of namespaces here, take a
gander at:

http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml-modularization/xhtml_modules.html#s_presentationmodule

When I used:

  xmlns:taxonomy="http://purl.org/rss/modules/taxonomy/"; 

in my modularization demo, (while I used purl.org as a sample/placeholder 
endpoint for example purposes), I did have in mind something like the
content at the XHTML URL above actually being at the end of the namespace
URL.

> Perhaps one of the tasks for a modular RSS based upon some of the ideas of
> RDF would be to make the use of namespaces more intuitive and useful.
> Two options:
> Make RSS namespaces more like barcodes, but with the added benfit of an
> (optional) repositary to avoid the problem with barcodes. (The UPC does not
> have database of all products with barcodes, but just the database of
> manufacturers. Retail chains often have to build their own databases from
> scratch by contacting the manufacturers.)

> If a URL is used (and the PURL redirect usage is a good idea) then what is
> at the other end should describe the module somehow, along the lines of XML
> schema.

Agreed.  For those playing along at home, care to give an example of what
you'd like to see at the end?

Rael

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