[tdwg-content] Add a Full Example: Re: Public comment on the Darwin Core RDF Guide

Steve Baskauf steve.baskauf at vanderbilt.edu
Sat Dec 13 15:42:55 CET 2014


If the Darwin Core repository is now at Github, then I think that would 
probably be the best home for all of the ancillary documents, including 
examples. Their current location on the RDF Task Group's site is only a 
temporary place for them.  The other alternative is the TDWG website, 
but we have yet to see whether it will become functional again or not.

Perhaps a good strategy would be to create a stable landing page for all 
of the ancillary RDF Guide documents at Github.  Then references in the 
guide can point to that page, rather than to a number of individual 
pages whose URLs might be more likely to change.  Does that sound like a 
good idea?

Steve

John Wieczorek wrote:
> At some point we should consider integrating examples in the Darwin 
> Core repository (it's new home) on Github 
> (https://github.com/tdwg/dwc). If you agree, we should use the new 
> reference in the RDF Guide. I have created an issue for this 
> (https://github.com/tdwg/dwc/issues/52).
>
> On Sat, Dec 13, 2014 at 1:49 PM, Steve Baskauf 
> <steve.baskauf at vanderbilt.edu <mailto:steve.baskauf at vanderbilt.edu>> 
> wrote:
>
>     Umm.  I don't understand why what you said is relevant. Nobody
>     that I know of has assigned domains to any of the existing Darwin
>     Core terms.  If you have Darwin-SW in mind, it only assigns
>     domains to object properties that it mints and I don't see how
>     that would prevent supporting either or both kinds of use.  The
>     problem in my mind is figuring out how to do queries that would
>     catch both kinds of uses, e.g.
>
>     SELECT ?Occurrence WHERE {
>       ?Occurrence dwc:eventDate "2014-12-13"^^xsd:date.
>       ?Occurrence dwc:locality "Smith Pond".
>       }
>
>     which would work for the simple version, but not Darwin-SW. 
>     Obviously, one could easily create a more complex query that would
>     work in simple cases like this example, but the complexity would
>     expand greatly if one wanted to require matches with 3 or more
>     patterns.
>     Steve
>
>
>     Bob Morris wrote:
>>     Ah, Steve, your examples well illustrate the reason to avoid assigning
>>     rdfs:domain, as well as why both are perfectly good illustrations
>>     neither of which should be deprecated.  Communities of practice can
>>     exploit either or both, and the only communities that are nailed are
>>     those that labor under an rdfs:domain for such things as dwc:EventDate
>>
>>     Bob
>>
>>     On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 10:59 PM, Steve Baskauf
>>     <steve.baskauf at vanderbilt.edu> <mailto:steve.baskauf at vanderbilt.edu> wrote:
>>       
>>>     Paul,
>>>     That's exciting that you are trying to generate RDF using real data!
>>>
>>>     I think we initially considered including something in the guide like
>>>     what you have suggested, but the problem is that what constitutes "an
>>>     Occurrence record" varies depending on the model one has in mind when
>>>     serializing the record as RDF.  Historically, "occurrences" were
>>>     considered to be a superclass that included specimens, and any property
>>>     remotely related to a specimen could be included as part of an
>>>     occurrence record.  A provider exposing an occurrence record might give
>>>     it properties such as dwc:eventDate, dwc:preparations, and
>>>     dwc:locality.  However, a different provider might consider
>>>     dwc:eventDate to be the property of a dwc:Event instance,
>>>     dwc:preparations to be the property of a dwc:PreservedSpecimen, and
>>>     dwc:locality to be the property of a dcterms:Location instance and link
>>>     those instances to a separate Occurrence instance via object properties.
>>>
>>>     Which of these is correct?  At this point there is no consensus as to
>>>     whether one of these approaches is better than the other.  We avoided
>>>     putting extensive examples within the guide document itself, since the
>>>     guide will become part of the standard and will probably not be changed
>>>     frequently, whereas best practices for deciding the types of resources
>>>     with which properties should be associated is likely to develop over
>>>     time and with the experience of usage.  For that reason, we have
>>>     included examples in the ancillary documents that are associated with
>>>     the guide, but which do not form part of the standard.  The "examples
>>>     using 'pure' Darwin Core" [1] and "Examples using Darwin-SW object
>>>     properties" [2] illustrate the extremes that I've described above.
>>>
>>>     Steve
>>>
>>>     [1] https://code.google.com/p/tdwg-rdf/wiki/DwcRdfOccurrences
>>>     [2] https://code.google.com/p/tdwg-rdf/wiki/DwcRdfExamplesDarwinSW
>>>
>>>     Paul J. Morris wrote:
>>>         
>>>>     As I've been working through implementing RDF generation in a few
>>>>     applications and seeking to conform to the guide, I've found myself
>>>>     spending a good bit of time hunting through the document looking for
>>>>     guidance on particular situations, this leads me to a suggestion for
>>>>     the guide: Include, at the end of the guide, a single comprehensive
>>>>     example of an Occurrence record, annotated to point to relevant
>>>>     sections in the guide.  This could serve both to quickly answer
>>>>     questions and as a visual index to the rest of the guide.
>>>>
>>>>     -Paul
>>>>
>>>>           
>>>     --
>>>     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 <tel:%28615%29%20343-4582>,  fax: (615) 322-4942 <tel:%28615%29%20322-4942>
>>>     If you fax, please phone or email so that I will know to look for it.
>>>     http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
>>>     http://vanderbilt.edu/trees
>>>
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>>>         
>>       
>
>     -- 
>     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 <tel:%28615%29%20343-4582>,  fax: (615) 322-4942 <tel:%28615%29%20322-4942>
>     If you fax, please phone or email so that I will know to look for it.
>     http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
>     http://vanderbilt.edu/trees
>
>         
>
>
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>
>

-- 
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.
http://bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
http://vanderbilt.edu/trees


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