Three Theses of Representation in the Semantic Web
01 January 2003
The Semantic Web is vitally dependent on a formal meaning for the constructs of its languages. For the Semantic Web languages to work well together their formal meanings must employ a common view (or thesis) of representation, otherwise it will not be possible to reconcile documents written in different Semantic Web languages. The thesis of representation underlying RDF and RDFS is particularly troublesome in this regard, as it has several unusual aspects, both semantic and syntactic. A more-standard thesis of representation would result in the ability to reuse existing results and tools in the Semantic Web.