[Tdwg-tag] Why we should not use LSID

Donald Hobern dhobern at gbif.org
Wed May 3 13:04:32 CEST 2006


Thanks, Roger for the clarification from TAG-1.  

 

I suspect that we still have some confusion between what should be part of
the biodiversity ontology and what is actually data described by that
ontology.  (Of course this is not at all surprising, since the boundary has
to be arbitrary.)

 

As I understand the TAG meeting’s concerns, we should ensure that software
libraries are able to access any definition elements required for them to
validate the form and content of exchange documents, and that it would be
foolish to use LSIDs in such situations.

 

Considering SDD as an example, my interpretation of this is that the RDFS or
other definitions for classes such as Character, State or Modifier should be
accessible through URLs.  This does not mean that the instances of these
classes (i.e. what I might call the individual SDD data elements) need
themselves to be accessible in the same way.  

 

I do understand that Gregor is concerned about our ability to reason over
the data as well as to validate the underlying documents.  However, if we do
choose to use technologies such as OWL to support such reasoning, I do not
believe that we can expect to reason over fully federated data.  Surely we
would expect to resolve the data (through LSIDs, PURLs, or whatever else)
and then process them locally?  We should certainly consider whether this is
an issue, but we should keep it separate from the main issue identified by
the TAG.

 

I also suspect that LSIDs may be a really good way for us to handle many of
our “controlled” vocabularies.  Obviously those vocabularies which make up
the definition of classes and their properties may need URL access, but in
many other contexts (including, I would have thought, SDD) it may be more
sensible to treat the vocabulary terms as data objects.  This will allow us
to extend them with all kinds of metadata.

 

I would say that the major reason the GUID meetings avoided adopting PURLs
was simply that they give us no clean separation between the identifier and
the owner and location of the document.  LSIDs (provided we sort out
appropriate best practices for how they are constructed) may, among other
things, give us an intermediate layer we can conveniently manage to handle
this.

 

Thanks,

 

Donald
 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Donald Hobern (dhobern at gbif.org)
Programme Officer for Data Access and Database Interoperability 
Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat 
Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Tel: +45-35321483   Mobile: +45-28751483   Fax: +45-35321480
---------------------------------------------------------------

  _____  

From: tdwg-tag-bounces at lists.tdwg.org
[mailto:tdwg-tag-bounces at lists.tdwg.org] On Behalf Of Roger Hyam
Sent: 03 May 2006 12:29
To: Roderic Page
Cc: tdwg-tag at lists.tdwg.org
Subject: Re: [Tdwg-tag] Why we should not use LSID

 

Hi Rod,

>>>From the meeting report - which I am struggling to get back to - these two
bullet points sum it up I think

*         There are certain things for which LSIDs are not appropriate. It
would be legal to use them for RDF resource identifiers for controlled
vocabularies and XML Schema locations BUT we would have to extend existing
software libraries to do this which is not desirable.

*         Recommendation: LSIDs are not used for controlled vocabularies,
ontologies or XML Schema locations. LSIDs should be used to refer to
instances.

Basically it was felt that if we used LSIDs for things like rdfs:Class
definitions then any library that went off to fetch the definitions
automatically would have to be extended so that it understood LSID
resolution. On the other hand it was felt that use of LSIDs for real
resources (things we are actually describing like specimens and people) was
fine. Once an ontology is loaded then it is all fine though so to an extent
this may be a false problem.

We spent a long time talking about what is part of the ontology and what
isn't and went round in circles (please lets not do it again). Basically
class and property descriptions should be URL type URIs but instance URIs
can be LSIDs. If you want to define the genus Rhododendron as being an OWL
DL class retrieved remotely then you should probably give it a URL. If you
want to define it as a data item then use a LSID.

I think Gregor's worries (correct me if I am wrong Gregor) are that in SDD
(possibly our whole domain) many things could be considered classes and
properties. i.e. Things you want your reasoner to use in the reasoning
rather than simply reason about. In this case it may be better to have URLs
for everything.

There is a niggling doubt (in my mind) that we may come across 'cool' tools
and libraries that assume that all resource URIs are URLs and that we would
not be able to use them or would need to extend them if we use LSIDs.
Imagine a semantic web browser where you click on a node and it fetches the
associated resource to expand itself. 

I do occasionally struggle to see the advantages of LSIDs as GUIDs over just
conventions for use of URLs but these may be matters of personal faith.
Another bullet point in the report says:

*         Recommendation: GUIDs Group should issue a document clearly
justifying adoption of GUID technology. The advantages need to be clearly
explained.

I'll try and get this report out ASAP but it looks very similar to the wiki
page here:

http://wiki.tdwg.org/twiki/bin/view/TAG/TagMeeting1ReportDraft

Obviously would be grateful for your thoughts. 

Roger



Roderic Page wrote: 

Dear Gregor,
 
For the benefit of those not at TAG 1, can you please explain why  
"LSIDs are not interoperable with semantic web technologies"?
 
Regards
 
Rod
 
On 2 May 2006, at 16:44, Gregor Hagedorn wrote:
 
  

Note that part of my concern about the use of concept when talking  
about
classes/properties/data elements is that I more and more believe we  
will want
to use ontology reasoners for uses other than software design, i.e. as  
part of
what we currently consider data (taxon names, concepts, rank  
hierarchy, parts
of organisms, properties of organisms, etc.). All these are ontological
concepts, and efforts www.plantontology.org do use OWL to reason on  
them.
 
The SDD presentation (the one not held in EDI, attached) contained some
examples how we might want to query our data - in ways that  
OWL-for-software-
design seems not to cover - and which using LSIDs would even prevent.
 
Please discuss:
 
http://wiki.tdwg.org/twiki/bin/view/TAG/WhyWeShouldNotUseLSIDs
 
http://wiki.tdwg.org/twiki/bin/view/TAG/UsePURLsAsGUIDs
 
Gregor
----------------------------------------------------------
Gregor Hagedorn (G.Hagedorn at bba.de)
Institute for Plant Virology, Microbiology, and Biosafety
Federal Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry (BBA)
Königin-Luise-Str. 19           Tel: +49-30-8304-2220
14195 Berlin, Germany           Fax: +49-30-8304-2203
 
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-------------------------------------
 Roger Hyam
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 Taxonomic Databases Working Group
-------------------------------------
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