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OK, now that I've had a chance to look at the RDF, it is as I
suspected. If I am understanding the proposal correctly, the proposal
is to replace the term <small><font
face="Courier New, Courier, monospace"><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/habitat"><http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/habitat></a></font></small>
(i.e. <i>dwc:habitat</i>) with the term <small><font
face="Courier New, Courier, monospace"><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002036"><http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002036></a></font></small>
(which I'll call <i>envo:00002036</i> for brevity) However, the
definition of <i>dwc:habitat </i>which you can view at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/source/browse/trunk/rdf/dwcterms.rdf">http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/source/browse/trunk/rdf/dwcterms.rdf</a>
says<br>
<br>
<i> dwc:habitat rdf:type rdfs:Property</i><br>
<br>
whereas the document I received at the end of those four redirects
tells me that <br>
<br>
<i>envo:00002036</i> <i>rdf:type owl:Class</i><br>
<br>
Since <br>
<br>
<i>owl:Class rdfs:subclassOf rdfs:Class</i><br>
<br>
then we are effectively changing the current DwC "habitat" term from a
property into a class similar to <i>dwc:Occurrence</i>, <i>dwc:Identification</i>,
<i>dwc:Taxon</i>, etc. which are all of type<i> rdfs:Class</i>. <br>
<br>
So I'm left wondering what I can do with the new term. With the old
term I could make a statement like<br>
<br>
<small><font face="Courier New, Courier, monospace"><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/baskauf/50750#eve"><http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/baskauf/50750#eve></a></font></small>
<i>dwc:habitat</i> "deciduous forest"<br>
<br>
or something like that if I take the hint from the DwC class groupings
that <i>dwc:habitat</i> might be a property of <i>dwc:Event</i>
instances. But I can't meaningfully say<br>
<br>
<small><font face="Courier New, Courier, monospace"><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/baskauf/50750#eve"><http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu/baskauf/50750#eve></a></font></small>
<i>envo:00002036</i> "deciduous forest"<br>
<br>
That doesn't make any sense because the way I understand RDF,
predicates should be properties, not classes. Even if we weren't
talking about RDF, I'd still have the same problem (we are changing a
property into a class) - it's just easier for me to make plain what the
issue is by giving RDF examples. So just exactly what can I "do" with <i>envo:00002036</i>
?????<br>
<br>
I haven't looked up the RDF for the other proposed terms (too much work
with the four redirects), but I suspect if I did, I'd find that they
are also classes and not properties. This particular issue is a case
of a broader issue that I have about OBO-style ontologies. They are
great for defining how many, many kinds of classes are related to each
other. But they provide very few properties that could be used as
predicates to serve as properties of instance data.<br>
<br>
Steve<br>
<br>
John Wieczorek wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAHwKGGeuiQ_3kyOVNH6TMTJCp3dLPT=zPtTF3Mao1oCDzy32hg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Dear all,
GBIF has just published "Meeting Report: GBIF hackathon-workshop on
Darwin Core and sample data (22-24 May 2013)" at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.gbif.org/orc/?doc_id=5424">http://www.gbif.org/orc/?doc_id=5424</a>. Now that this document is
available for public reference, I would like to formally open the
minimum 30-day comment period on the new environmental terms proposed
during the workshop and defined in the referenced document.
The formal proposal would change the term habitat to align it with the
ENVO habitat term. The related issues in the Darwin Core issue tracker
is <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/detail?id=178">https://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/detail?id=178</a>. The
Darwin Core term habitat would be redefined as follows:
Term Name: habitat
Identifier: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002036">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002036</a>
Namespace: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/</a>
Label: Habitat
Definition: A spatial region having environmental qualities which may
sustain an organism or a community of organisms.
Comment: Examples: "freshwater habitat",
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002037">"http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002037"</a>. For discussion see
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Event">http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Event</a> (there will be no
further documentation here until the term is ratified)
Type of Term: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class">http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class</a>
Refines:
Status: proposed
Date Issued: 2008-11-19
Date Modified: 2013-09-25
Has Domain:
Has Range:
Refines:
Version: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002036">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002036</a>
Replaces: habitat-2009-04-24
IsReplaceBy:
Class: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Event">http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Event</a>
ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD (someone please confirm or deny this)
The formal proposal would add the following new terms for biome,
environmental feature, and environmental material:
Term Name: biome
Identifier: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00000428">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00000428</a>
Namespace: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/</a>
Label: Biome
Definition: A major class of ecologically similar communities of
plants, animals, and other organisms. Biomes are defined based on
factors such as plant structures (such as trees, shrubs, and grasses),
leaf types (such as broadleaf and needleleaf), plant spacing (forest,
woodland, savanna), and other factors like climate. Unlike ecozones,
biomes are not defined by genetic, taxonomic, or historical
similarities. Biomes are often identified with particular patterns of
ecological succession and climax vegetation.
Comment: Examples: "flooded grassland biome",
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_01000195">"http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_01000195"</a>. For discussion see
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Event">http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Event</a> (there will be no
further documentation here until the term is ratified)
Type of Term: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class">http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class</a>
Refines:
Status: proposed
Date Issued: 2013-09-25
Date Modified: 2013-09-25
Has Domain:
Has Range:
Refines:
Version: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00000428">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00000428</a>
Replaces:
IsReplaceBy:
Class: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Event">http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Event</a>
ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD (someone please confirm or deny this)
Term Name: environmental feature
Identifier: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002297">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002297</a>
Namespace: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/</a>
Label: Environmental Feature
Definition: A prominent or distinctive aspect, quality, or
characteristic of a biome.
Comment: Examples: "meadow",
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00000108">"http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00000108"</a>. For discussion see
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Event">http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Event</a> (there will be no
further documentation here until the term is ratified)
Type of Term: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class">http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class</a>
Refines:
Status: proposed
Date Issued: 2013-09-25
Date Modified: 2013-09-25
Has Domain:
Has Range:
Refines:
Version: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002297">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00002297</a>
Replaces:
IsReplaceBy:
Class: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Event">http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Event</a>
ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD (someone please confirm or deny this)
Term Name: environmental material
Identifier: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00010483">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00010483</a>
Namespace: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/</a>
Label: Environmental Material
Definition: Material in or on which organisms may live.
Comment: Examples: "scum",
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00003930">"http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00003930"</a>. For discussion see
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Event">http://code.google.com/p/darwincore/wiki/Event</a> (there will be no
further documentation here until the term is ratified)
Type of Term: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class">http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Class</a>
Refines:
Status: proposed
Date Issued: 2013-09-25
Date Modified: 2013-09-25
Has Domain:
Has Range:
Refines:
Version: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00010483">http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00010483</a>
Replaces:
IsReplaceBy:
Class: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Event">http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Event</a>
ABCD 2.0.6: not in ABCD (someone please confirm or deny this)
The related issues in the Darwin Core issue tracker are
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/detail?id=189">https://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/detail?id=189</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/detail?id=190">https://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/detail?id=190</a>
and
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/detail?id=191">https://code.google.com/p/darwincore/issues/detail?id=191</a>
If there are any objections to the changes proposed for these terms,
or comments about their definitions, please respond to this message.
If there are no objections or if consensus can be reached on any
amendments put forward, the proposal will go before the Executive
Committee for authorization to put these additions into effect after
the public commentary period.
Cheers,
John
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<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.tdwg.org/mailman/listinfo/tdwg-content">http://lists.tdwg.org/mailman/listinfo/tdwg-content</a>
.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Steven J. Baskauf, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer
Vanderbilt University Dept. of Biological Sciences
postal mail address:
PMB 351634
Nashville, TN 37235-1634, U.S.A.
delivery address:
2125 Stevenson Center
1161 21st Ave., S.
Nashville, TN 37235
office: 2128 Stevenson Center
phone: (615) 343-4582, fax: (615) 322-4942
If you fax, please phone or email so that I will know to look for it.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu">http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu</a>
</pre>
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