[RDF] Non-fact statements

[Stefan Andersson]

> Just a thought.
> 
> The DB model includes fields that states if the statements is to be
> considered facts or not.  This is a common solution to represent
> reified statements.
> 
> But the introduction of "trusted models" makes it possible to skip
> that field.  A reification statement talks about some statement
> possible from another model.
> 
> Non-fact statements from a non-specified model could just be placed in
> some special model that defaults to untrusted.

Well, actually, I've always found the division between 'fact' and
non-fact a bit silly. There is no such thing as a 'fact', only trusted
or non-trusted statements/data.

A model can be judged trustworthy based on its internal consistency, or
its backing by an authority. There is _always_ an issuer of the
statement, implicit or explicit. The trick is wheter the system
_remembers_ (is aware of and has retained the knowledge of) who the
issuer was.

And - these are different levels of indirection.

If my system were to access the model
http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns
the _primary_ _implicit_ issuer of the model would be the actualized
http daemon on www.w3.org.

Now, if the returned model would include some sort of standardized
'attributed_to', that would be an _secondary_ _explicit_ statement of
issuer. 
One could imagine a _secondary_ _implicit_ statement of issuer based
upon the OS 'last_updated_by' or by file system rights.

Now, if the _primary_ issuer wasn't trustworthy, there is no way you
could trust the issued model, and thus not the attribution in it. That's
pretty banal. But the opposite is true as well. Just because the primary
source is trusted, that does not mean the secondary has to be.

If I was to try to summarize, it would be by pointing to a
thought-provoking paper on trust published by E Gerck and the MCG:

http://www.mcg.org.br/trustdef.htm

Read it. I mean it. Then read it again.

Kram,
/Stefan

BTW. Why doesn't the w3.org/rdf page use RDF for content declaration?
Never trust a skinny chef... ;-)