IAU thesaurus in RDF (an update)

[Rob Seaman]

Rick wrote:

> I really wasn't trying to do an end run-around (for those familiar  
> with American football)

More of a bump and run.  This has been a defensive maneuver.

> 	Basic Idea:
> 		- acceptable or should we stop doing/talking about this?   A vote  
> of hands?

Thoroughly acceptable.

> 	IAU/IVOA Thesaurus:
> 		- name					I vote for "Updated IAU Thesaurus" (lots of political  
> brownie points and the blessings of continuity) or, if necessary,  
> "IVOA Standard Vocabulary" (if we have to be purists)

A thesaurus and a vocabulary are two different things.  We should  
call this whichever it turns out to be.  This effort should produce  
more than one work product.  In that case, describe each accurately.   
Certainly if we promulgate something that is largely derivative of  
the IAU Thesaurus, we should designate it as such.

> 		- ivorn et al.				need to register this and other vocabularies  
> somewhere and determine final resting place at ivoa.net

Not an issue limited to this WG.

> 		- rules					e.g. singular/plural format?

Whichever, as long as it's self-consistent.

>   restrictions on amount of ontological info (e.g. limit on # of  
> NT's, BT's, RT's in present document)?  See the rules we suggested  
> for the SV.

Something pragmatic.

> 		- normative format.		I vote for text at first unless something  
> simple like N3 is good enough (i.e. just as simple but with tools/ 
> parsers/filters already crafted)

Yes, we should seek a normative document.  Yes, text.

> 		- supported formats.		Based on previous discussion, sounds like  
> SKOS and OWL.   Would like to see concrete translation patterns  
> between text/N3 and SKOS/OWL.

SKOS - yes.  OWL - yes, but only if no more than modest effort is  
needed for this specific work product.  Adding vast complexity for  
hypothetical benefit is not only unwarranted for VOEvent (the first  
customer), it would be bad for the ultimate goal of an ontological  
takeover of the VO.  NARF!

> 		- documentation			HTML-based help at least at the level of my  
> simple lists/dictionary.  One can quickly get bogged down in the  
> ocean of tokens.....  This is not about high-level computer post- 
> processing but human-level decisions about what tokens are needed/ 
> missing.
>
> 		- examples				How to use both the tokens and the limited  
> ontological info, both as proof-of-concept (read "post-facto  
> justification") and to show potential to external parties
>
> 		- adoption				Formulation as a formal proposal, desirable timeline.

Yes - yes - yes.

> and then immediately thereafter (or in parallel):
>
> 	IVOA Generic Vocabularies:

Ditto on all points.

> Could you and/or Andreas get a (T)Wiki set up?  All that I have is  
> on my homepage (download IAU.tar).  I'm sure Alaisdair Allan could  
> put up a functional if temporary working site at HTN if the IVOA  
> administrative path is difficult.

This should live on an IVOA server.

> P.S.  I will be away for the next 10 days (knee surgery)

Get well soon!

- Rob