On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 3:03 PM, Jonathan Rochkind <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Note this isn't as much of a problem for "born web" resources -- nobody's
> going to accidentally create an alternate URI for a dbpedia term, because
> anybody that knows about dbpedia knows that it lives at dbpedia.

Unless they use the corresponding URI from Wikipedia or Freebase.

In short, identifiers are based on social contracts and only
"validated" through use.  Not because some authority or other has
endorsed them, but because they've proliferated through actual, real
world, use.

Different communities might have the reason to use a different
identifier that expresses the *exact same thing* because the syntax or
the format better suits their needs.  Or language.  Or environment.

And there's nothing any governing body or standards document can do to
stop them.

It's obviously a bad time to use this term, but identifiers will not
be produced by standards, but by "market forces", branding and
momentum.

-Ross.